Angel of Death (Revised Full Story)
by The Grimm Reaper
Summary: The sequel to Guardian Angel that was requested to be brought back. Mar, having had the privilege of Marrying Spyro and Cynder, has booked a special place for them to go on their Honeymoon. Earth, Australia, Victoria, Lorne. There they will stay in a wonderful place known as Countrywide Cottages, but will it be as peaceful as it seems?


Prologue:

It's been three years since I killed Mace. I'm living the good life now. I've got a girlfriend who's in love with me, I've got my sister training with me, and Nuke is on holiday. I remember my first official assignment. I had to bring a human girl from Earth to Heaven. She was killed in a car accident. I escorted her soul to Heaven where she became a new breed of Angel. Her name was lily. She became an Angel with a ring around her head. We decided to call it a Halo.

But now to my most recent mission: I was assigned to help Spyro and Cynder with a little killing of their own. I'd met them before while sending the souls of their enemies to the void. They'd noticed me when I dragged a white light to a dark abyss that was the entrance to the void. I had recently gained the ability to open the gate instead of dragging the souls to Heaven. I helped them with their Malefor dilemma. They feared that He would return, so they asked if I could take his soul to the void.

"Now if you want to contact me for anything, just call my name to the heavens. I'll hear you." I said before leaving them.

Somehow, Spyro, Cynder and I became the best of friends. Amber and I visited them whenever we didn't have people's souls to drag to the void. One day, Spyro asked me to be his best man for their wedding. I told Amber the good news. "Oh my god. Cynder asked me to be her maid of honour. Isn't this great? Well both be the best men for the wedding." Said Amber with so much excitement, she started squealing before I could answer her question. On the wedding day, there were crowds of dragons and Moles and Leopards standing in rows next to each other waiting for the event. The buildings were decorated with purple and Black streamers, indicating the colours of the two being married. We saw the two of them standing next to each other. Cynder was wearing armour that shined as bright as the sun. Spyro's step-brother Sparx had shined her armour earlier that day. He'd also helped clean her scales. As a wedding present, I'd invited Ignitus the recently appointed chronicler, to the wedding.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world you two. But you should thank Mar for this. I couldn't have got out of my chamber to see you in person if it weren't for him. He made it so." Spyro and Cynder gave me a big hug after finding out I was the one who got him there.

"Oh thank you so much Mar. This is the best thing you've ever done for us." Said Cynder.

"You're welcome Cynder, but thank Amber. She gave me the idea, I just made it happen." I replied.

After the wedding I offered to take them to another dimension for the honeymoon, knowing full well that they wanted to go to other dimensions. Spyro screamed like a girl and hugged me again, followed closely by Cynder. They gave Amber a hug as well to show they appreciated her participation. I saw the two of them and knew that even if I was assigned to take their souls to the void or Heaven, I'd do everything in my power to stop their death. Now I had to help them with their location. I chose a dimension that was full of people in certain areas, had plenty of space and a nice cool climate. The both of them agreed with my choice and decided to go there.

"Now, now you two. Don't just agree with me because you're afraid of hurting my feelings. It's your honeymoon. You make the final decision." I said showing them that I wouldn't be offended by their disagreement.

"Okay Mar. We want to go to Earth." Said Spyro and Cynder together.

I stared at them blankly.

"Earth. Are you serious?" I asked sceptically. Amber was sitting next to me, staring into space, pondering over Spyro and Cynder's request.

"Yes, we're serious, Mar. What's wrong with Earth?" Cynder asked.

"Well, for starters, there are no other dragons on Earth. The only creatures resembling dragons are the Komodo dragons of Indonesia. And they don't even look like dragons." I replied.

"They really look like overgrown geckos with saliva sticking out of their mouths." Amber interrupted, shaking herself out of her trance.

"So we can't go to Earth?" asked Cynder sadly. She gave me a sad look that I couldn't stand, and she knew this.

"Yes you can. But I advise that you don't. It will be difficult for humans to see you the way we do." Said Amber. Then an Idea popped into my head.

"Wait. I know how you can go to Earth without people shooting at you." I said. They both looked at me with disbelief. Obviously they didn't count on the fact that humans would shoot at them.

"How?" asked Spyro, who had been quiet since saying they wanted to go to earth.

"Well. If I made an image using charter magic from the dimension of the Old Kingdom, I could make you look human from everyone's perspective, except ours." I replied, sounding very confident. And again, the both of them got up from their pillows and gave me a great big hug. The fact that my wing blades were sticking into my shoulders didn't help.

"You…Are…The best." Cynder screamed, not letting go of me.

"Well guys. Pack your bags or treasure chests or whatever, 'cause we're going to Earth."

* * *

Chapter 1: Earth

"Oh my god. We're going to Earth!" Screamed Cynder. We were waiting for Spyro to finish packing. Amber went to help him while I talked to Cynder about Earth.

"Now remember, Cynder. Do not get in a car with any strangers. Alright? It's like that saying: 'Don't go flying with strange creatures' okay?" I asked.

"Okay, Mar." She said. I looked at her in the eyes to see if she really understood what I meant. As I thought; I saw understanding in them.

"And remember; don't trust anyone you don't know, or anyone who looks suspicious. Alright?" I checked.

"Yes. Thanks again for taking us to Earth Mar." She said giving me a light hug.

"You're welcome. I've rented a house for us to stay in. I'm going to be you guardians while you're there." I said hugging her back. She looked at me thankfully.

"And if you and Spyro need time to yourselves, I'll be ready to leave so you and Spyro can…can…do your…do your thing." I said a little nervously. She blushed a little bit when I said that.

"Did anyone ever tell you you're the best?" She asked. Before I could answer, we heard a scream from Spyro's chamber. Cynder and I spread our wings and took off, heading for the chamber.

"Ow!" Said Amber holding her finger.

"What happened?" asked Cynder as she went through the window into the chambers.

"Nothing, the suitcase landed on my finger." Replied Amber. I went over to her and took a look at her finger. The bone was broken.

"It's just a broken finger." I said. Spyro and Cynder looked at me surprised.

"Just a broken finger?" Cynder asked.

"Don't you care about things like that?" she asked again.

"It's easily fixable. Just need to say _Et Arello_ and presto: One fixed finger." Cynder looked at me with astonishment.

"_Et Arello_?" She asked. As soon as she said it, her whole body shook.

"Whoa. Hey Spyro, My left talon is fixed." She said flexing her left fore-paw. I smiled at her. She had been complaining about her talon ever since she attacked that sheep that was so boldly walking through the city.

"See, even saying the words heal you." I said.

"Now, are we ready?" I asked signalling towards the exit of the chambers.

"Yeah, but how are we going to get these suitcases down to the portal?" Asked Spyro. I looked at him with a smile on my face.

"Watch this." Motioning for them to look out the window to the portal. They walked over to the window and looked. While they looked I grabbed Spyro's suitcase and Jumped from the chambers to the portal. The next thing I heard was Spyro screaming at me, saying: "What the Fuck?" I laughed at him.

"Look behind you." I said. I saw Cynder and Spyro turn their heads towards where I was in the chamber. As they tuned, I jumped again, ending up right in front of Spyro who nearly fell out of the window.

"Oops, sorry Spyro. I didn't mean to scare you." I said.

"How'd you do that?" He asked. I just smiled at him.

"I can teach you to do it as well. I can even teach Cynder if you want." I replied coolly.

"Hell yeah. I wanna learn that." Said Cynder and Spyro at the same time. They seemed to be doing that a lot.

"Alright, let's get going before it gets dark. We don't want to keep our ride waiting." I said as Spyro and Cynder tried to learn the jumper technique.

"Mar. Don't forget to change their appearances for the humans." Amber reminded me.

"I've already done it." I said, confused.

"Really?" she asked. She tilted her head to the side. I nodded at her.

"Only we can see what they truly look like." I explained. She understood what the imaging meant now.

"Okay, see you when you get back." She replied. Cynder looked at me confused.

"Isn't Amber coming too?" She asked.

"No. Unlike me, Amber can't hide her wings; she'd be an easy target. Besides she's got Sam to keep her company." I replied sounding upset. Cynder didn't know that Amber hated Earth. For reasons kept to ourselves, we never told anyone about why she hated it so. "Okay, let's go before I get old." I urged towards the portal which I had just opened.

"Mar, you don't age." Said Spyro.

"Exactly, which is why, if you don't get going; I'm gonna start ageing." Spyro sighed and lifted his suitcase. Or tried to.

"Hey, a little help here?" He asked. I growled a little. Hearing this Spyro jumped back. He knew all too well about my past. I motioned to him to get out of the way as I kicked the case into the portal. He jumped up and ended up having his tail sucked in. The portal forced him the rest of the way through. He was finally in Earth.

"See ya Spyro." Amber chuckled. Cynder was nearly pissing herself laughing at the face Spyro made as he was sucked through the portal. He looked scared shitless, his face was priceless. I shook my head as they both laughed. I didn't mean to force him through the portal; I lost control of my actions. That rarely happened now a days. I motioned for Cynder to go through next. She walked slowly toward it, knowing that she'd get sucked into it like Spyro if she touched it.

"Kin' hell. I'll go, if you're too scared. I just sucked Spyro through because he was taking too long to move his suitcase. The portal won't suck you in." I said rushing my words. Cynder nodded and walked a little faster towards the portal.

Finally, she went through the portal. I turned to Amber.

"See ya Cynder" She said. I walked up to her and held her in my arms before I left for Earth. As I let go, I gave her a kiss on the cheek.

* * *

Chapter 2: Engagement

"Here; this is for you." I said giving her a box with my seal imprinted on it.

"What is it?" She asked opening the box.

"Something for you to remember me by." I replied as her eyes fixed upon a necklace that had my seal on it.

"The seal of Mar?" She asked. She held it in her hand as it shone in the light of the two suns that lit the planet.

"Yes. Sam and I agreed that is if you want; it's about time that you became an official member of the family. Think of it as a sort of engagement gift." I said nervously. I couldn't believe I was going to ask her to marry me. I mean she just turned twenty. I was twenty five. I had five good years on her, and yet here I was asking to marry her.

I got on one knee, held her hand in my own, folded my wings, and popped the question:

"Amber. Will you marry me?" As I asked the question, I regretted it straight away. Thoughts ran through my head. _What if she says no, What If she thinks I'm too forward with the question, What if—_ as I thought this she said the last thing I thought she'd say.

"It's about time you asked me." She said sobbing. I looked at her with pure joy. She was crying, but it was a cry of happiness.

"Is that a yes or a no?" I asked coolly. I already knew what the answer was, but I just had to say it.

"What do you think?" She replied. I laughed.

"What are we, Jewish? Since when do we answer a question with a question?" I asked laughing as hard as I could. She joined in. As we held each other in our arms kissing, we heard a scream from the portal. Then Cynder's head appeared through the portal, followed by the rest of her.

"Oh my god Mar, the house is absolutely fantastic. There's a—" She stopped as she saw us kissing.

"What's going on?" She asked curiously.

"Well, I didn't want to spoil your honeymoon Cynder, but I've just proposed to Amber. We're getting married." I said. Suddenly I was tackled by two dragons trying to hug me.

"Congratulations Mar." Cynder said while Spyro said: "About time you big softy."

Word after word after word. I couldn't make sense of all of it. Then Spyro jumped off of me and headed for Amber to congratulate her. Cynder just continued to hug me, tears in her eyes.

"Well done Mar. I'm glad you found someone to care for." She said. I just chuckled at her.

"I already had you two to care for. Amber is someone I can both care for and look after." I said. Cynder smiled at me.

"So Cynder, why were you crying?" I asked her, concern in my eyes.

"Two reasons; One: I'm happy for you. Two: I stubbed my toe as I jumped through the portal." She laughed as she said this.

"You want me to take a look at it?" I offered.

"Thanks." She replied. Cynder and I were great friends. We loved each other like family. '_Maybe I should give both Spyro and Cynder Seals; Invite them to the family_' I thought. Before I could finish thinking, Cynder kissed me, distracting me. And she said congratulations again before heading towards Amber to congratulate her as well.

It was a full hour before Spyro, Cynder and I went through the portal again. We'd said goodbye to Amber and had finally made it to the house. It was more of a cottage than a house, bur Spyro and Cynder both loved it all the same.

* * *

Chapter 3: arrangements

"Hey Mar, where do we sleep?" asked Cynder. I smiled at them and led them to their bedroom.

"That's nice Mar, but where do _we_ sleep." She repeated the question. I sighed at her and pointed to the queen sized bed in the end of the room.

"We're sleeping in the bed together?" asked Spyro. I growled at him.

"No. _You_ two are sleeping in the bed." I replied.

"So, where are you going to sleep?" Cynder asked. I knew she was only concerned about me.

"I'm sleeping in a different room, it's just behind us, across from the entrance to your room." I replied calmly.

"Oh, okay." said Spyro.

"Now I assume you two want to get the full experience of a human's life?" I asked.

"Oh, yes please." They both said.

"Good, 'cause I've made arrangements to send the three of us to school. I would have sent just the two of you, but you need a guide. Plus I'm your Guardian while you're here." I explained.

"How are you going to make yourself look eighteen, Mar?" Cynder asked. I could tell that Spyro wanted to know as well.

"The same way I made you seem human to the outside world." I answered.

"Charter magic?" asked Spyro. I nodded at him. I could see that Cynder couldn't understand the difference between Charter magic and normal magic.

"What _is_ Charter magic Mar?" She asked.

"It's magic that requires symbols in order to work. It can only be used in the upper half of the world. It was originally used in the country of the old kingdom. But that's another dimension and another story all together." Cynder nodded her head in understanding.

Shortly afterwards, I drew the charter marks required to change appearances. I pushed the marks towards the two dragons and the marks stuck to their scales like paint on a wall. The marks shone a brilliant mixture of colours. I could tell that the magic worked. My eyes turned black, my iris' turned a bright yellow. I could see my work. Cynder had black hair with black clothes. Her eyes were a light blue. Spyro had a yellow t-shirt with a purple jacket, and dark blue pants. His hair was bleached blonde. He looked like a male version of Sam.

I notice that Cynder's jacket was done up, her pink shirt finished under it. I also notice a hint of grey in her skin. A bit of purple was showing in Spyro's skin as well. Obviously, Dragon scales were hard to cover with skin. Their colour was showing, but only a little bit. It wasn't suspicious enough for humans to suspect.

"Now then," I said, as my vision returned to normal. The two figures dissipated to dragons with the charter marks glowing brightly on their scales.

"Your stories are: You are my brother Spyro, and you're my sister Cynder." The both of them nodded, knowing that this was the best way to keep them safe.

"Your movement is generated by the charter magic. If you jumped up on a chair, it would seem to the others like you were sitting down. Understand? Your movement is not the same as the movement made by the charter." I explained.

"Now, how would you talk to a human Spyro?" I asked. I had to teach them as much as I could about humans in such a short time.

"What would you say?" I repeated. He looked at me, confused.

"What does it matter?" He asked.

"Because you will be considered weird if you don't say the right thing. Then it will make you an easy target for those that don't like new guys. I recommend keeping to yourselves, unless people want to know you. Just make sure that they're not the wrong kind of person." I said. I wanted them to be as safe as possible. If I was supposed to be their older brother, I should act like it.

"I'd say hello?" said Spyro. I nodded at him.

"But how would you say hello?" I asked I needed to make sure hat they enjoyed themselves. I didn't want to over do it though.

"Hi, I'm Spyro." He answered.

"That could work. On a four year old." I said laughing. Cynder joined in. I stared at Cynder. Now it was Spyro's turn to laugh.

"And how would you say 'hello' to a human Cynder?" I directed at her. She stopped laughing immediately. I saw her tail curl under her body. She was nervous as hell.

"Um… Hey, what's up?" She said. I started laughing.

"Oh god, Cynder. You're better at this than Spyro." I chuckled. Spyro just growled under his breath as Cynder laughed a little laugh.

"I'll tell you what? I'll take you to a friend of mine who knows what I am, and I'll give you examples of how we speak. How's that sound?" I asked they both perked up at this consideration. Now we were getting started.

The next day, I took them to the 'Same as it never was' antiques store. Melinda Gordon was known as a ghost whisperer. She could see my wings when others couldn't. She asked me straight forward if I was an angel and I answered yes. Obviously. I entered the antiques store and greeted Melinda with a smile.

"Hey Melinda, how're you doing?" I asked, being polite.

"Mar, you're back. I'm doing great, how're you?" She replied. I smiled and gave her a hug.

"I'm alright. Listen, I have a favour to ask of you." I said, getting straight to the point. She smiled and replied:

"Anything. What is it?"

"I need you to help me teach some… kids to make a first impression." I said picking my words very delicately.

"I take it these…Kids are from 'Out of town'?" She asked. I nodded. Melinda was very understanding when it came to my friends.

"What exactly are they, and why are they here?" She asked curiously.

"They're both young dragons, and they're here for their honeymoon. I've offered to take them to another dimension and they chose Earth. Their names are Spyro and Cynder." I replied. I explained to her about how I used Charter magic to change their appearances to the outside world.

"Now when you see them, they'll have symbols all over their bodies. Spyro is the purple dragon; Cynder is the dark purple dragon. She's supposed to be black but the magic that she possesses has brightened her scales." I explained.

I grabbed my phone and Cynder answered.

"Hello?" She said.

"Cynder, it's Mar. Come on into the store." I replied.

"Which one?" She asked. I sighed.

"Same as it never was." I replied. I heard something in the phone, but I couldn't tell what it was.

"Um. Mar?" she called.

"Yeah?" I answered. I could tell that something was wrong, by the sound of her voice. She sounded scared.

"I can't read human." She said ashamed. I paused for a minute.

"Crap. Sorry guys, I forgot to teach you how to read." I said into the phone.

"It's okay Mar. You can't think of everything." She said trying to make me feel better.

* * *

Chapter 4: Scary

"Where are you?" I asked. I didn't hear anything. I got worried for a second when:

"_Spyro!_" I heard her cry, and then she dropped the phone. It crashed to the ground and I held my hand to my ear crying out with pain.

"Ahhh. God damn—" I said. Then I heard Cynder's voice again.

"Mar; Help. Spyro's trying to jump again. He thinks he needs a persuasion so he's going to jump off a building." She said hurrying her words. I almost couldn't understand her.

"_WHAT?_" I shouted. Before I received an answer, I pictured Spyro and Jumped to his location. I stopped right behind him. As he was about to jump, I grabbed him by the thighs and dragged him away from the edge of the building.

"What are you trying to do to me?" I asked him. He tried to nip at me for grabbing his thighs, and then he noticed me.

"I was trying to jump from here to Cynder." He explained, confused as to why I was so angry at him.

"You're only going from here to the ground below if you try anything like that. Don't do things like this. Especially on your honeymoon. Besides, we don't want to draw attention to ourselves. Remember, Humans have no magic in them. None, what so ever." I yelled at him. I was so scared that I would lose him that I started crying. I never cried.

"Jesus, Spyro. I can't lose you." I said, my tone was much quieter now. Cynder had run up the stairs to the building and made it to the top as I pulled him away from the edge. She saw the whole thing. She had tears in her eyes herself when I looked at her. She ran over to Spyro and smothered him in kisses.

"Spyro, don't do that ever again!" She cried. Spyro, who had been quiet throughout the conversation, had finally spoken up.

"I'm sorry…Guys. I thought I might need a type of persuasion. I mean, you can already jump Cynder." He looked at her with a sad look in his eyes.

"I can only jump a few metres." She replied.

"Besides you can fade in and out, that means you need to concentrate on jumping from one place to another."

I wasn't listening. I could feel a crack forming on my cheek. There was a loud ripping sound and both heads turned to my cheek. A dark light was protruding out of it. I focused on the thought of the three of us as well as Amber in a field laughing. I held onto that thought, and slowly but surely, the crack sealed up again. I opened my eyes to see them both at the edge. I thought Cynder went mad and decided to jump with him.

"_No!_" I shouted. The both of them flinched and Cynder tripped over the edge. Spyro had her paw in his own and was holding on as hard as he could. I ran over and tried to help. Spyro, who was still scared at me, flinched and accidentally dropped her.

"Damn!" We both said. I didn't know what to do. All of a sudden, Spyro jumped from the edge to the floor. He'd actually done it.

As Cynder was about to hit the ground, Spyro formed just below her and caught her in his paws.

"Thanks honey." She said. Luckily there wasn't anyone around.

"That was a close one." He said. I jumped off the edge of the building, falling towards them. As I landed, I said I was okay; that I wasn't going to hurt them.

"Well done Spyro. I guess you did need a persuasion, and Cynder fit the bill perfectly." I said, chuckling. Cynder and I congratulated Spyro some more before I took them both to Melinda's antiques shop.

"What happened?" She asked, concerned for _my_ well being as well as _theirs_. That was the thing about Melinda, she always cared.

"Spyro jumped." I said plainly. I couldn't be bothered telling her the details. I urged Cynder in; Spyro was already through the door. He wanted to learn to speak human. Although they were married, Spyro and Cynder had a very competitive streak. They always aimed to be better than the other, but they never let that get between their friendship; which recently became their marriage.

"Now, let's begin." I said. Cynder was nervous about being in here. I couldn't tell why, but I wasn't going to get into it. I leaned next to Spyro.

"Spyro, sit next to Cynder. She's a little nervous, god knows why. She needs some company." I said. Spyro complied with a nod. He walked over to Cynder and sat down next to her. They started talking; I was too far away to hear, so I tapped into my power. My eyes glowed yellow. I could hear them.

"I don't like it here Spyro," Cynder said.

"It feels dead in here." She continued.

"Don't worry Cynder. Mar wouldn't send us into a dangerous place. Besides; Mar said humans had no magic I them. I wouldn't worry about it honey." He said trying to calm her. She cooed softly. Something neither Spyro nor I had heard her do in weeks. I walked over to them.

"Cynder's fear is correct. There is something here. While I said that humans had no magic in them; I didn't say that other things had no magic." The both of them looked at me with horror.

"Don't worry. They're just ghosts that require Melinda's help. She can see the dead. That's how she knew me. She could see my wings when no one else could." They looked at each other and then to Melinda, then back to me.

"Does that mean, she can see what we really are?" Spyro asked. Cynder was just in tatters.

"Yes." I replied cheerfully, trying to break the tension that was building up inside Cynder. She looked at me with fear in her eyes. I just smiled a warm smile at her. She didn't return the smile. Obviously the fear in her was too strong for her to notice anything warm and friendly.

"Well, well. If it isn't Dawn Grimm." A deep, distorted voice said in the back room. I turned to see a figure standing there. I saw who it was and my eyes turned black with hate.

"_Dundier_, Mace." I said throwing a spell at him to show his whole self.

"It's been what, two, three years?" He asked. He knew how long it was, but he wanted to know if _I_ still remembered.

"Three." I replied. The darkness cracking out of my cheeks. Mace turned his attention to Spyro and Cynder. Obviously he didn't know I could travel between the living realm and the dead.

"Who're your friends?" He asked trying to get to me. It worked. I spread my arms out (Which were cracking along the veins), and shielded the two of them.

"They're family." I replied. Spyro and Cynder looked at me with sheer joy. I could tell what they were thinking. "_Had I really called them family? Did I really consider them to be family?_" I turned to them and smiled. As I did so, my lips cracked. But this time, they didn't flinch.

"Well then. It seems I have a wider range of family members to kill." He said. He turned his head to the antique swords. As he did so, they were unsheathed and thrown towards Spyro and Cynder. The swords swooped past me. I twisted my wrists and caught the swords by their hilts.

"Okay, my turn." Mace just laughed. He had no idea what was about to happen. I quietly enchanted the swords in my hands to strike down the dead, and only the dead.

"_Ill-indi Man-calibur!_" I shouted. The swords shone out of my hands and re appeared behind Mace. He laughed.

"You don't seriously think these will hurt the dead, do you?" He asked with glee in his voice. Melinda, Cynder and Spyro stared at me. All of them, even Mace flinched when my voice distorted.

"Just watch them." I said. The flesh on my body gone completely, replaced by a dark skin. A Shadow aura had surrounded my body. No one could see what I looked like. Through the shadows my eyes could be seen; two yellow eyes in the darkness. Spyro and Cynder tried to move but couldn't. I could feel their fear welling up inside them. With out moving my body, I turned my head around to look at them, a disgusting cracking noise appearing as I turned.

"Do not fear me my friends. For you are not my objectives." I said; my voice unrecognisable even to me. Cynder looked away for a second before saying:

"Look out!" I did not stir as Mace's body went right through my shadowy flesh.

"You're a fool Mace. Do you really believe you can defeat the angel of Death?" I laughed a chalky laugh. The whole room froze. Literally. Ice formed in the corners of the room, on the windows. The water in the park froze, the people froze, and everything was frozen solid. Melinda, Spyro and Cynder were unaffected. As I said before, they weren't my objective.

"Your caution is correct. You must realise by now that you…Are…Doomed." I said. As I said this I made a light form in the shape of a smile. My body grew larger. I had covered both Spyro and Cynder in darkness so they could not be targeted by Mace. Inside the darkness, it was as bright as day. They saw my dark skin and were suddenly relieved. I showed them what was happening on the outside. I shot long shadowy tentacles from the centre on the darkness, towards Mace. He screamed. As my tentacles closed in on his body he shouted at me.

"It is not your destiny to die by my hand. I was just a test. The real threat is coming. He has seen what I have seen. He is here behind me." I knew all too well what he was talking about.

"Beldorn does not scare me. He has forgotten that it was I who imprisoned him in the first place." I then turned my attention towards the grandfather clock. My eyes shone as the dark figure was clearly visible to me. He shook with fear. I knew instantly that I was wrong. It was not Beldorn who was the threat Mace spoke of. It was something else.

"Perhaps I was wrong. Maybe I am destined to be killed by both of your masters, maybe not. But if these two are threatened in the process," I revealed Spyro and Cynder sleeping on the floor next to each other. I had put them to sleep temporarily in order to save them from paranoia. The mind can easily be warped by things such as this. Even Malefor, their greatest enemy was nothing compared to the scenes taking place here. I didn't want their honeymoon to give permanent nightmares or something similar to hallucinations.

"Then I will protect them no matter what, and destroy whatever comes to hurt them." I released Mace. I had no wish to destroy him. That was in the past. He stared at me with confusion.

"You do not want to kill me?" He asked. I shook my head. My shadowy flesh was dyeing down. I was calm. Seeing the two dragons asleep like that, made me feel at peace.

"What happened between us is in the past. I have no grudge against you. To prove this, I will spare you; even give you your wings again." I raised my hand and two wings appeared in my palm.

"_Ill-dunara._" I whispered into the wings. As I did so, the wings disappeared and formed onto Mace's back.

"_Rimm-Batumn_." I called. The colour in Mace's skin had returned. He was alive. He gasped for air. I walked up to him and patted him on the back.

"Thank you Dawn." He said. I laughed at him. He stared at me with confusion on his face.

"I haven't been Dawn in six years, let alone called it." I said explaining my cheery attitude.

"Yes, I heard your friends call you Mar. Isn't that elfish for Dragon's wing?" He asked.

"And here I thought that you never listened in the history classes." I chuckled. He paused for a moment, and then decided to laugh as well.

"Daw— Mar. How can I repay you?" He asked. I waved my hand signalling that there was no need to repay me.

"If you'll let me Mar, I'd like to try to be your friend. At least try to be. We might find we have a lot in common?" He asked. I was taken aback by his request.

"I'd like that." I answered. Who would have thought that I'd be friends with my fiancé's brother?

"So… What'll we tell your friends here?" He asked looking towards the two sleeping dragons.

"How about we say that we were old friends, right? And we wanted to give them a great big scare for the honeymoon." Mace agreed with the plan.

"So they're on their honeymoon are they?" He asked. I nodded.

"To be honest, I actually had planned on scaring them today. 'Cause the holiday would have been boring otherwise." Mace chuckled as I was saying this. I laughed as well.

"I think this was very scary." He replied.

* * *

Chapter 5: Consequences

"We'd better get them back to the cottage." I said.

"Wanna come with?" I offered. Mace nodded.

"Let's go. I wanna test out my new wings." He flapped them once.

"We're staying at Country wide cottages in Australia. It's in Victoria near Geelong." I said. He turned to me.

"Aren't you coming to fly?" He asked.

"Sorry. I've gotta Jump them back. They'll be awake in a minute." I replied. Mace folded his wings and walked towards me. He grabbed my shoulder and waited for me to Jump.

I grabbed Spyro and handed him to Mace. Then I grabbed Cynder and gently flung her over my vacant shoulder.

"Mar, aren't you forgetting something?" Mace asked me. I turned to him, and he threw his head towards the room. It was still frozen.

"Oh, right. Um… _Dierde_!" I called. The windows began to clear and the walls began to lose their shine. The icicles melted and the same thing happened outside.

"_Morsmauder!_" I shouted.

"What does that do?" Mace asked.

"Anyone who doesn't know what we are will forget the frozen grounds. By the time the ice turns to water, people will think that it was raining." I answered. Mace nodded in understanding.

"Hurry, they're going to wake up soon." I said. Beldorn was well gone now so I didn't have to worry about him.

"Sorry Melinda. We'll be back to apologise later." I said. And then I jumped out of 'Same as it never was' and back to the cottage.

"Shouldn't they be awake by now?" Asked Mace. We were getting worried. They should have been awake hours ago. It was taking too long.

"They should have been awake two hours ago. I'm gonna take a look." I said. And with that, I opened my mind and tried to talk to Spyro.

"Spyro…Spyro... Hey bro where are you?" He always liked when I called him Bro. He always wanted to be part of the family. But I wasn't so sure about Cynder until today when I mentioned that the both of them were family. I saw how she perked up as I said that.

Non the less I couldn't get through to Spyro. So I tried Cynder instead.

"Cynder? Cynder sweetie, it's time to get up." She stirred a little. But nothing else. I didn't want to do this but they both left me no choice.

"HEY GUYS, WAKE UP!" I shouted. They both stirred a little. I thought that was all that would happen. But then they both woke up. Their eyes slowly opened. Their first reaction was scared shitless. But when they saw that I was calm, they both relaxed.

"Mar you're okay." Cynder said hugging me. I wrapped my wings around her to keep her warm. It was then I noticed that there were holes in them. I knew that they would heal later on, but the fact that there were holes in my wings disturbed me.

Losing my train of thought, I heard Cynder scream.

"Cynder, what's wrong?" I asked as they both cowered in the corner. I noticed that they were looking past me to the kitchen. I turned my head around to see Mace with a kitchen knife in his hand.

"Hey Mar, How do I take the bones out of the chicken?" Mace asked. I stared at him.

"Why aren't you using magic?" I asked.

"MAR!" Cynder screamed. I turned to her with a smile on my face. We started to laugh.

"Oh, my god. He's joined Mace and he wants to kill us for being his friends." Cynder said suddenly. I stopped laughing and stared at mace. I winked at him. He got the idea straight away. I looked at Cynder and let loose a low growl. She started shivering. She closed her eyes. I looked at Spyro and winked at him; letting him in on the joke. He smiled and stood up. He turned away from me and stood by my side. Cynder looked in horror. I used a small trick to make all our eyes glow their colour: Mine yellow, Spyro's Purple and Mace's green. We walked slowly towards Cynder, Spyro taking the lead. He leaned into Cynder who was frozen stiff.

"Don't worry; it'll only hurt for a second." Cynder decided to give in and she tilted her neck. Spyro leaned in towards her neck and placed his lips on it. Cynder closed her eyes again, ready for the sure death that awaited her. Spyro, who was enjoying himself, gave her a little nip on the neck before kissing it. Then he released her neck and leaned back. Cynder opened her eyes after three seconds and looked at us. Mace and I were red in the face, trying not to laugh while Spyro had one eyebrow raised, smiling a devilish smile.

Finally I had to release my joy. I burst out laughing. Followed closely by Mace. Spyro just sat there staring at Cynder.

"Oh god! I can't take it anymore. That was so much fun. I just couldn't refuse the opportunity Cynder, I'm sorry." I said rushing my words. I started laughing uncontrollably straight afterwards.

"Cynder, this is Mace. He's an old friend of mine from way back. I asked him here so we could frighten the both of you. But I decided that since Spyro wasn't scared anymore I'd let him in on the joke. So I winked at him. He decided to play along with this and, well, here we are." I said, trying to compose myself through the whole thing. Spyro just stared at Cynder. Cynder noticed this and faced him.

"Spyro, what's wrong?" She asked. I lost all joy in the moment instantly. Mace and I looked to Spyro.

"I—"As he was about to say something, he fainted and fell off the bed, and landed head first. As Cynder cried out to him, I was the only one who heard a snap.

"Spyro!" I shouted. I ran to the edge of the bed where he fell. I checked for a pulse. Nothing.

"_Rimm-Batumn._" I called. I heard Spyro breath once before screaming with pain. I had to fix his neck. That was the snap I heard earlier.

"_Et Arello_." I called again. I heard another snap and Spyro's neck jumped up and down for a second or two before settling again. He stood up, Dumbstruck.

"Thanks. What happened to me?" He asked.

"You fell off the bed and broke your neck." Cynder replied. She then looked to me.

"What was that spell you used Mar? I've never heard it before." She asked. Mace was about to reply when I cried out.

"Arghhhh!" I unfolded my right wing to see a new hole form in it. It looked like a cigarette burning through a piece of paper. It felt a hundred times worse. It finally finished, half the wing was practically gone. I flapped it a few times to see if it still worked.

"Get some sleep. You've got school tomorrow. You need all the rest you can get." I said. Mace interrupted me.

"It's only six thirty, and what about diner. They need something to eat. Besides, they've been sleeping for hours now. I don't think they're tired."

I looked at the clock.

"Chicken right? Say _Regala_." I answered plainly. Then I left for the front door.

"Where're you going?" asked Cynder. She didn't sound curious. I knew that she was going to punish us all for scaring her like that. She walked towards the door to cut me off.

"I'm going out." I said plainly. I wasn't in the mood for Cynder's revenge.

"No you're not. You're all in trouble." She said. She grabbed the key and swallowed it whole. Mace stared in amazement. But Spyro and I had seen this before. She didn't eat it, just kept it in a pouch in her throat. That's where female dragons keep their wounded offspring until they heal. It keeps them warm and is an easy way to feed and water them.

"You're not leaving this house until I've paid my dues." She said enforcing her authority with a growl.

I was getting bored.

"Cynder, I need to get out, please let me go and I'll come back and you can take your revenge without any struggle. I promise." I said, trying to sound calm, but my temper was rising and fast.

"Sorry Mar, but I don't trust you at the moment." She answered.

"Since when has my trust been an issue?" I asked.

"Since you decided to play a trick on me and Spyro. Since you decided to get Spyro to help you with this. I'm going to take my revenge on each and every one of you." She said charging up a dark energy blast from inside her.

"I don't have time for this." I said plainly and I formed a dark bubble around me and disappeared into the night. Then the dark bubble dissipated.

"Where'd he go?" Cynder asked.

Outside the cottage, another Dark bubble appeared at the front door. I walked out of it casually as if the bubble and the door weren't there at all. With out thinking, I spread my wings and went to fly. As I took off, Spyro, Cynder and Mace made it through the front door. Mace held the key in his hand. It was sticky from being in Cynders throat.

"Damn you Mar!" Cynder shouted.

I'd made it three metres before my right wing snapped off my shoulder. I roared in pain and I went crashing into the ground. Cynder's revenge was forgotten immediately as she went to my aid. Cynder found me on the ground lying on my one remaining wing, which was now broken in three crucial places. While I could not feel pain from my wings, I could feel pain from the joints in my shoulder that had my right wing attached to it. There was Dirt and blood all over my shoulder.

"Oh, no. Mar." Whispered Cynder. Mace came along and saw the desolated body that was currently me. I was conscious at the time. Mace went up to me and picked me up off of the ground, being careful not to touch my shoulder. Spyro saw what had happened and moved towards my shoulder and placed a cold towel on the wound. I could feel the pain, but I was in too much of it to make a noise.

Mace placed me gently down on Spyro and Cynder's bed. I would have preferred that he placed me on my own bed instead of fucking up theirs. Spyro went to get something for the wound while Cynder kept pressure on my shoulder. If you've ever been stabbed in the shoulder with a knife. Picture that pain and multiply it by one thousand. Then spread it along your right shoulder blade. Then that would be a tenth of the pain I was feeling at that time. Little did I know, it was about to get worse. Spyro managed to find White vinegar in the kitchen. He opened the bottle and poured it over the wound. Even though Spyro thought it was simply bottled water, I couldn't help crying out:

"FUCK…YOU IDIOT! ARGH!" I was in so much pain, I couldn't help but scream.

"What's wrong?" He asked. Looking at the bottle. I stared at him, my eyes blood shot and glowing yellow.

"IT'S VINEGAR!" I yelled. Spyro dropped the bottle, shocked. Unfortunately, He didn't drop it on the bed. The bottle landed on my shoulder. The pain that came after that was enough to knock me out. As I faded out of consciousness, I heard Cynder shout:

"You idiot. Why didn't you look where you were putting the bottle?" She was screaming so loud that Mace entered the room and broke the fight up.

"Guys… Don't…Don't...Don't fight." I whispered. The last thing I saw was Spyro looking at me with tears down his eyes. He was mouthing "I'm so sorry" to me. Then I lost all awareness of my surroundings.

* * *

Chapter 6: Stuff happens

The next morning, I woke up to find Bandages all over my shoulder. Spyro and Cynder hadn't slept a wink. They were about to nod off, so I thought I'd wait until They did so. Unfortunately, I took a deep breath which woke the both of them from their drowsiness.

"_Insanictia_." I whispered. Cynder heard me whisper the spell but as she lifted her head, she fell down and went into a deep slumber. Spyro went straight to sleep as Cynder did. _Insanictia_ was a spell to put people to sleep, it worked for an hour. As I got up from the bed I saw the dried blood on the sheets.

"I see you're up." Said Cynder. I looked at her asleep on the bed.

"Over here." She said. I turned my head onto the mantelpiece. Cynder was standing there.

"How… How did you do that?" I asked as her afterimage disappeared.

"You're not the only one with hidden abilities Mar. It just so happens that I learned this technique from Cyril." She explained. As I was about to say something, I heard Spyro get up off of my lap.

"Immunity." Spyro explained. Before I had the chance to ask.

"I was pretending." He said.

"Okay, What is this?" I said tugging at the bandages. Spyro and Cynder both flinched as the bandages fell off of my body.

"That was a bandage." Said Spyro.

"I heal almost instantly you idiot." I stated. I felt for the hole in my shoulder where my wing used to be. Nothing. I went to the mirror and took a look.

"Great. Now I look like Sephiroth from that movie, Final fantasy seven." I said with disgust.

"That guy's too up tight." I explained. As I said this, I hid my one remaining wing from view. It disappeared from my body. I then drew the charter marks required to change appearances. I placed them on Spyro and Cynder and walked out of the room.

"Right, let's go." I said. Mace looked at me with amusement. He'd never seen me heal so fast.

"where're we going?" asked Cynder. I turned to her.

"School of course." I replied.

"But…You—" I stopped her right there.

"My health is not the concern here. This is your honeymoon and I'm not going to let anything, even myself get in the way of you guys having fun." I said very clearly.

"Now get your breakfast and get dressed." I said pointing to their stomachs. I'd forgotten the charter marks for clothing.

"Hey, I'm flat." Cynder complained. I looked towards her.

"You don't see Spyro complaining about your breasts, do you?" I asked. Cynder looked towards Spyro who was just staring at her face.

"Cynder, unless you want other men to be hot for you, I wouldn't complain about it." He said.

"Besides, I'm only interested in the real you." He said leaning into her. She cooed softly.

"Hang on, How did you know that you were flat?" I asked out of curiosity.

"The mirror." She said pointing towards the wall that had a mirror reflecting her human self.

"Oh. Okay well, eat your breakfast and lets get going. I'll get the marks for clothing." I said. I drew the marks in the air. Then I added them to the marks on Cynder's body. Then I did the same for Spyro.

"There we are. How do they look?" I asked Mace.

"Have a look for yourself." He replied. I switched my vision. Like before, Spyro was wearing a yellow shirt with denim jeans. But this time he was wearing a purple trench coat that went down to his ankles.

Cynder was wearing Black cargo pants and a pink shirt. She wore a black sleeveless jacket over her shirt and on the back, was her wings imprinted in the middle of her jacket.

"Hmm. I don't know. I'll try something else. _Minum_." I called as the charter marks for clothes re organised themselves. Then they shone again.

Spyro had a yellow tank top on with purple on the back. He wore a necklace with two wings on the front. I could see on his right arm, was my seal. The seal of Mar.

Cynder had a dark purple pair of tight pants on, and a pink tank top with dark purple on the back. She had a bandolier that divided three ways with a ring on the middle, around her torso.

I checked back to Spyro and he had a jacked around his arm.

"Spyro, put the jacket on." I said. He complied without a word. It was purple, and was sleeveless on the left side. But the re was a sleeve on the right. A long sleeve that went to his wrist. I also noticed that he wore a belt with my seal on the buckle.

I searched for a seal on any of Cynder's clothing.

"Mar, what ere you doing?" She asked as I brushed past her hide.

"Sorry, just checking for something." I answered. I searched and searched. I had almost given up hope when I saw it. My seal tattooed on her underbelly.

"Mar, this looks weird." She said trying to block my vision.

"It's not what you think Cynder. I'm looking for something." I said.

"Yeah you said that, but what are you looking for?" She asked. I didn't answer.

"Spyro. Show me your belt buckle." I said. I felt Cynder flinch. She thought I was going to do something profound.

"What? No Mar, I forbid it. What about Amber? You love her. Besides, Spyro's right in front of us." She said. I could see that she was looking for an explanation.

"For god's sake. Spyro, the belt?" I stuck out my hand for the belt.

"What're you going to do with it?" He asked. I looked at him.

"Nothing . I just need the buckle." Reluctantly, he threw the buckle to me. I caught it with my right hand and kneeled down next to Cynder.

"Cynder, move your right hind leg." I said.

"No." She said flatly.

"Cynder, I'm not going to touch you. This is important." I said. Cynder shook her head.

"I'm sorry Mar, but I don't trust you." I looked at her for a good second. I sighed.

"Very well. _Sistam imperi_!" I called. Cynder froze on the spot. Spyro looked at me. I met his gaze.

"Spyro. You have to trust me. I would never hurt you like that. You know this." I said. I waited for an answer. But received none. So I went to move Cynder's leg, ready for an attack. None came.

I searched for the mark under her breast scales, then to her stomach. Tracing every symbol. I heard a squeak. I went a bit too close.

"Oops, sorry." I said and traced for the symbol. I couldn't find it.

"Damn!" I cursed. "Where is it."

"Where is what?" Asked Cynder. Her paralysis was wearing off.

"The mark. The bloody—" I heard another squeak.

"Sorry again sweetie. I've just got to find—" I stopped at the mark. I saw it. Right under her tail, just above her bottom. As I went to take the mark off. I felt a talon on my shoulder. Damn Spyro. He chose the worst time to attack. Now he had paralysed me and I squeezed on her tail.

"Ow, Mar. What're you doing?" She bellowed to me.

"Can't…Move…Paralysed…Spyro…Stuck." I managed to say. Cynder turned to Spyro.

"You really are an idiot, you know that?" Cynder said.

"We don't know how long his paralysis is going to last, and—" Before Cynder could finish, I started to yell. I was trying to over power my body. Trying to move my hand.

"_Sectum Brambardorna!_" I shouted. As I used the magic, My seal came off of Cynder and flew in my mouth. I gagged. I had full mobility of my body.

I ran outside and Jumped into Space. With My last breath I shouted.

"_Dierdonum Rambutanber meta_!" With all my magic, I forced the seal out of my body. It started glowing. I was five metres away when it exploded. An unstable charter mark, made from my seal. How embarrassing. I went flying back to Earth. I jumped as far to the ground as I could. I was a kilometre from the ground. I'd land in Country wide Cottages within a minute.

* * *

Chapter 7: School sucks

Cynder and Spyro were standing out the front, looking for any sign of me. They had seen the explosion, and were getting worried. Mace had flown off in search of me. It took longer than expected to reach the ground. I had obtained some of my energy, but it wasn't enough for me to do anything about my falling. I could see Spyro's scales in the moonlight. Mace was at least a kilometre away from the cottage, but he was closing in. He must have seen Me coming and headed back. I tried using what little energy I had left, and turned around. I didn't want to lose my one remaining wing.

"That's it." I said. My wings had reserve energy inside them and I could use that energy to create a dark bubble.

I folded my one wing, and concentrated on the magic inside it. It shone a darkness I'd seen all too often. I then used my wing as a shield from the air. I concentrated on making a dark bubble in front if me. I waited a second and tried again. Nothing.

"_Brasmada_!" I shouted. I reinforced my wing's magic with my own. My wing ignited in a dark fire. It didn't make a dark bubble appear; It was the dark bubble. I folded my wing over my body. It engulfed me and placed me gently on the ground. As I landed safely on the dirt in front of Spyro and Cynder, I noticed that my back burned.

"Mar, are you alright?" Cynder asked as I got up and ran for the door. I guess she forgot about where the mark was before.

"I'm fine, get your bags. We're going to be late for school." I said. I looked in the mirror for my wing. What I saw was: my wing had not changed. But my seal was tattooed on my right shoulder. The shoulder where my right wing used to be. I noticed the wing again and I made it vanish. "Mar?" Cynder called. I turned to her. She was looking at the mark that had appeared.

"If I hadn't done what I did, You would have been in that explosion. And that was something I could not let happen." I said plainly. She walked up to me.

"Why didn't you just tell me what was happening?" She asked.

"I wasn't so sure myself. Besides, it was too embarrassing." I replied. Cynder blushed a little.

"I have to agree with you there." She said. I looked at her and saw sadness in her eyes. I wanted to look into this but there wasn't that much time.

"Do you have your things ready foe school?" I asked. She nodded.

"Mar?" She called. I turned to her again.

"Do you really consider us family?" She asked. I hadn't expected this to come out of Cynder's mouth. I took a second to think this through. I still wasn't one hundred percent sure whether or not Cynder would want to be family.

"If you wish it." I replied, softly.

"Now, get your things." I said rushing the process.

"We're taking a bus, and it'll be here in a minute." I put on a black tank top and ran for the door.

As we ran out the door of the cottage, headed for the front of the area; I placed a charter mark on my forehead. I looked eighteen again. I placed a bandolier around my torso to keep my items in. As We made it out the front, The bus was coming along the mountain road. We were the first ones on the bus.

"So why don't we just jump to school?" Spyro whispered to me. As people were getting on.

"Because, Cynder can only jump a few metres at a time. Anyway, we can't afford to let people know what we are." As I finished explaining, A student came to the back. He seemed friendly enough.

"Hi." Said a boy. He was a little scrawny, I could tell he was one of those kids that were picked on. He wore clean clothes with a Hawaii shirt and blue jeans.

"Hi." I said, not wanting to get too formal. He seemed a little put down so I smiled a little.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" He asked. I shook my head.

"Sit where you like." I said. He thanked me and took a seat next to Spyro, hoping that he was kinder than me. A girl came next and introduced herself as Brody's brother; Amanda. I assumed that the boy next to Spyro was Brody.

"May I sit next to her?" Amanda asked.

"That's up to her. My name's Mar. This is Spyro and Cynder." I said introducing myself and the others.

"I don't suppose you guys are strong?" Brody said suddenly. We looked at him with confusion.

"Why does it matter?" Cynder asked. Amanda was staring at her brother.

"Brody, don't ask questions like that. You don't know them. They might even help him if you act the way you're acting." We shifted our gaze to Amanda. I wanted Answers.

"Who is _he_?" I asked, curious as to the identity if this man. As I spoke, Amanda pointed to a bulky guy with a biker's jacket. He was just getting on when he saw Amanda pointing at him.

"What do you want, bitch?" He asked. I heard the authority he had over the others. His voice was powerful. But not as powerful as mine.

"Hey, that's no way to talk to my sister." I heard Brody say. The bulky guy walked over to the back of the bus.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't hear over your senseless babble. What did you say?" He asked with a smile on his face.

"Back off, pal." I said. He turned to me. I met his gaze.

"You're new here. So I'll let you off with a warning. Don't go making friends with these losers. They're nothing." He said.

"Try hanging around us. We'll be at the corner of the school. Just look for the smoke." I looked him in the eye. He didn't seem to like that. I saw a hint of surprise in his eyes.

"What's your name, mate?" He asked. I blinked, breaking my hold on his eyes.

"Mar. Mar Grimm." I answered coldly. I looked to see everyone on the bus looking towards the back, watching us, waiting to see how this will play out, and hoping for a fight. I wasn't in the mood to scratch their itches.

"Who're your friends?" He asked looking towards Spyro and Cynder.

"Family. This is Spyro," I answered tilting my head to him.

"and Cynder." I finished, tilting back over to Cynder. He looked them over, and then back to me.

"Bring them if you wish." He said after a minute. I looked at Spyro, and without looking back, I said:

"That is _if_ I come at all." He had started walking to the front of the bus when I said that. But when he processed the statement, he stopped and turned back to me.

"Why not?" He asked. Astounded that I'd turn down the opportunity that new guys rarely get.

"What?" I asked, pretending not to understand him.

"Why would you refuse me when I'm clearly the stronger one here." He puffed out his chest.

"I didn't know you had man-boobs." I said making everyone on the bus laugh, including the driver. He exhaled after I said that.

"Oh man, Bruce, He got you good." Said one of his friends.

"Shut it Alex." He replied. Then he looked me dead in the eye. Again I met his gaze. I thought I'd humour him a bit. I decided to look a little nervous.

"No mercy." He said.

"After School. Out the front. Today." He said. I just laughed. I wanted to say something so bad. So I did.

"Are you kidding me? Five seconds on the battle field with those huge jugs and I'd be knocked out for days." I shouted. The bus driver lost control of the bus for a second but quickly regained control. Everyone else laughed. Some even laughed till they coughed up their breakfast.

"Well then, you'd better duck. Because I'm not going to let you go home until I've taught you a lesson." I shrugged.

"Fine by me. Spyro and Cynder will go home but you and me, we're gonna dance." I said standing up out of the chair. I leaned in close to his face and blew into it. As I did so, he fell back to the floor.

"You know who you remind me of?" I said.

"You remind me of Meatloaf, the singer." I said laughing now. Everyone else joined in. Bruce's face was turning red. I sat back down and placed my arms around Spyro and Cynder.

"Anybody else wanna fuck with the new guy?" I asked. Bruce was getting up as everyone shook their heads.

"See you after school." He said. The he walked away to the front of the bus.

"Earthquake, Earthquake!" I yelled as he took each step. He turned around and said to me.

"Stop saying Earthquake." I shrugged at him and as he turned I started shouting out:

"Tremor, Tremor!" He turned around and went for the charge. I saw this coming, and had plenty of time to react. He closed in.

"Spyro, Cynder move closer to Amanda and Cynder." As they did so Bruce closed in and tried to punch me in the face. I quickly moved out of the way and threw him through the back window of the bus. He rolled on the road and was still. The bus halted. The driver ran up to the back and went to climb out. I held him back.

"You keep the bus running. I'll go check on him." I jumped out the broken window and ran to him.

"How is he?" Cynder asked. I turned and smiled at her.

"Not good. He might wake up!" I said, laughing. I turned to bring him onto the bus. As I did this He woke up and hit me square in the face. The punch felt like nothing, but I had to humour him. I cried in pain. He smiled at this.

He took a swing and I ducked, punching him in the gut. He staggered. To the end of the bus, I saw Spyro and Cynder cheering me on while the others stared in amazement. Bruce tried to side swipe me but I jumped over him and kicked him in the back of the neck. He fell, unconscious on the ground.

"Look out!" I said as I swung the great lug into the bus. He landed on the bus driver. Now both of them were unconscious. I took the driver's seat and turned the key to the ignition. As I drove the students who were asking how I did all this, I thought to myself:_ Now school's gonna suck. Nothing interesting happens during school hours. However, Bruce might want revenge. But is that going to be fun, or dangerous. Does doing this put Spyro and Cynder in danger? If so, I must correct this_.

* * *

Chapter 8: Troublesome party

"Now remember, if the teacher asks you a question that you don't know the answer of, let me into your mind so I can tell you." I said to both Spyro and Cynder while we were waiting for our timetables from the principal. The both of them nodded as the principal came into the room.

"Now then, which one of you is Sp…Spi…Spyro, is it?" She asked. Spyro stood up and nodded to the principal.

"That's me." He said, offering her his hand. Spyro was the one who insisted I teach him human etiquette. He said he didn't want to make an ass of himself while he was there. The principal shook his hand and said:

"My name is Mrs. Herring. I'm the principal at this school. Here is your timetable and welcome to Barham secondary college." She let go of Spyro's hand and walked over to Cynder.

"I take it that you're Cynder?" She asked. Cynder nodded at the tall woman, stood up and repeated the same procedure as Spyro.

Mrs. Herring looked up at me. I was already standing.

"I take it that you three aren't very talkative?" She asked me. I shook my head.

"Spyro and Cynder are just nervous, they'll adapt quickly. So enjoy the silence from these two while you can." I said smiling. Mrs. Herring gave me my timetable and shook my hand.

"Well then I'd better say welcome while I can still get a word in, hadn't I?" She asked. I chuckled a little. I looked over to see the faces on the two dragons. I winked at them.

"Don't worry. They'll be good. I'll make sure of this." I said. Mrs. Herring had my files in her other hand. I saw my picture.

"Now Mar, You are the soul Guardian of these two are you not?" She asked abruptly. I nodded in agreement.

"Ever since your parents died? In America wasn't it?" She checked. I nodded again. I could tell she was a little worried about my guardianship skills.

"Don't worry about that, I've got a well paying job on the weekends. I can pay for all of us to learn here." I said smiling again to show my confidence.

"And what kind of job is that again? It isn't shown on your report." She said. I frowned at her.

"I'm not at liberty to discuss it. It's rather secretive." I said, hoping she would buy it. To my surprise as well as relief, she did.

"Very well, I'll take you to your class. I took the liberty of putting the three of you in the same class. Is that alright?" Spyro and Cynder looked relieved.

"That's perfect." I answered as Spyro and Cynder were staring at each other with relieved faces.

As we walked up to the classroom, Cynder was asking about the students.

"Are they nice?" She asked. Mrs Herring simply nodded. She smiled at Cynder which seemed to calm her down.

"So what class subject is this?" I asked, breaking the long silence that followed after Cynder's question.

"Just some History." She answered. I looked towards Spyro and Cynder who were getting worried.

As we approached the door, I took a look at the students in the room.

"Oh great, Tremor's here," I said as I looked upon Bruce, Playing his PSP in the corner.

"With his electric friend: Playstation." I pointed out to Mrs. Herring. She looked over to Bruce. Then she looked at me.

"So you're the one that put Bruce through the bus window? Well done. We can't get him to do anything. And we can't expel him because his father's one of the investors of this school." She explained. Spyro and Cynder gave each other a high-five.

"Now guys, calm down." I said.

Mrs Herring opened the door to the room and every head looked up. Some smiled, some didn't show emotion. Bruce was the only one who was showing anger towards us, well, me at least.

"Sorry to bother you Mr. Howard, but these three are new to the building and they've been assigned to this class. So can you sit them next to someone?" She asked. Mr. Howard motioned for us to come forward and dismissed Mrs. Herring.

"Okay, so what's your name ma'am?" He asked looking towards Cynder. Cynder didn't answer, she was too nervous around this crowd of people.

"Her name's Cynder. This is Spyro and I'm Mar." I answered as the both of them froze with fright. Mr. Howard looked at me with a cold stare.

"Do you think these two can answer for themselves?" He asked trying to shame me in front of the class. I wasn't about to let that happen. So I looked at the frozen dragons and said:

"Obviously not." I smirked. He took a dark gaze at me then.

"I can see that you're going to be trouble. You can sit next to Bruce over there for this lesson. See what he makes out of you." He smirked at this. I just laughed. He looked shocked at this notion.

"Didn't you hear what happened to Bruce this morning?" I asked. He shook his head. I smirked an evil smirk that made Mr. Howard shiver with fear.

"He got thrown through the back of the window of the bus." He looked at me with sheer delight.

"Really? Who did it? Was it one of your siblings?" He asked. I shook my head. I pointed to my chest.

"You're looking at him." I said darkly. Mr. Howard's face lit up. It was obvious that none of the staff liked the boy.

"Could Cynder do that as well?" He asked. I looked at him for a minute. I didn't like the way he was concentrating on Cynder like that. Spyro noticed this too and went to cover her from his view. He noticed this movement and looked directly at Spyro.

I invaded his mind, looking for what he was thinking. As I saw what he wanted from Cynder, I growled low at him. Only Mr. Howard heard this. I saw out of the corner of my eye that Amanda had heard this as well. I turned to Spyro and let him know Mr. Howards intentions. Spyro looked Mr. Howard in the eye, a cold feeling went through the room and I knew that Spyro wanted to blast him with ice. But I motioned against it, and he turned to Cynder and led her next to Amanda. I then looked at Mr. Howard who was looking very suspecting at the three of us.

"Yes she can. And she could take on more than one of Bruce as well." I said. I leaned in to Mr. Howard's ear and said:

"I know your intentions with Cynder, and don't get any more ideas. Spyro is stronger than Cynder, and I'm twice as strong as both of them put together. I will not show mercy for those that think that way of my sister and act as they see fit." I leaned away and saw the horror on his face. The rest of the class noticed this too and stared at me. I took a seat next to Spyro who was sitting next to Cynder.

"Um… I've lost track of where I was. Do what you want for the rest of the class. It's nearly recess anyway." Everyone cheered. They all looked at me after this, with smiles on their faces.

"Hey man, that was great. What'd you say to him to make him forget what he was teaching? He never forgets things like that." Asked a scrawny boy with spiky blonde hair.

"I told him that I knew what he was thinking. I could see it in his eyes. He kept looking at Cynder like she was a piece of meat." I said, showing my anger.

"Mar, calm down. You know what happens when you get mad at someone." Spyro said as he was comforting Cynder. The boy turned to Spyro.

"What happens?" He asked. Spyro looked at me and I nodded. I wanted to get a reputation for the family.

"Usually the person who gets him mad… Doesn't get the chance to do so again." He said, sounding sad. I smiled, cracking my knuckles.

"Don't worry, I usually make them attack first, that way if I'm seen killing them, It will be considered an act of self-defence. Cynder looked at me.

Who's a piece of meat?" She asked. Everyone stared at her. I looked at her with a confused gaze.

"Cynder, are you okay?" I asked. Spyro was getting worried as well. All of a sudden we all heard a laugh from the corner of the room.

"Well. It seems that weirdness runs in the family." Said Bruce. Spyro jumped up and ran over to him in order to get a better shot. Nobody saw me move in to intercept him.

"No, Spyro. He's not worth it." I said sternly. Spyro looked upset. And I didn't blame him.

"_Why did you do that?_" He asked, telepathically. I stared at him confused. I knew that he wanted to hurt Bruce so badly for calling his mate weird.

"Why are you defending him, after he insulter our family, _your_ family." I stared at him coldly.

"I don't want to get in a fight over this guy. Like I said, he's not worth it." Spyro sighed after a moment and smiled.

"You're right Mar. Sorry about that. You know how protective I am over our sister." He explained. A storm came in all of a sudden. The lightning hit the electrical system in the school and turned out the lights. Everyone spoke about this. Lord knows why, it was just a power outage. In the dark, our eyes glowed their original colours. Amanda noticed this, and started screaming. As we heard her screams, our eyes faded. Everybody turned to her. Even Bruce took a little interest in why she was screaming.

"What's going on here?" Mr. Howard said as he came into the class room. Amanda started pointing at Spyro and me.

"Their eyes were glowing." She said; her finger shaking. I gave her a dark stare. "_This girl is gonna get us in trouble._" I thought.

"Yeah right, Amanda have you been taking anything?" asked Brody. He was very worried that her outburst was going to get her in trouble.

"I'm serious, Mar, Spyro and Cynder's eyes started glowing. All different colours." She continued. Mr. Howard looked at Amanda disbelieving. However, he didn't look at her face. Everywhere else but her face.

"Hey, Howard. I know what you're thinking about. Tell me, are you married? Cause if you are, your wife wouldn't like it." I said, making Mr. Howard jump. He stared at me and left the room again.

"What is he on?" asked Spyro. I was about to answer when the most unexpected thing happened. Cynder suddenly spoke up.

"I think he's on digitalis. Mrs. Herring warned me about him. You have to remind him, or point out what he's doing." I didn't expect Cynder to say anything, she was acting strange. Kind of like in America at the 'Same as it never was' antique store.

"I'll say just this." I said, as everyone looked towards me.

"Saved by the bell." As I finished the sentence, the bell rang for recess. Everyone wanted to know how I did that, but Bruce got up and stood behind me.

"Instead of after school, Recess. Now. Outside." He walked off. Everyone moved out of his way and let us through and then followed us outside where the fight would begin.

* * *

Chapter 9: Possession

Bruce led us to a secluded part of the school. He turned to let us through.

"Bring two people as well as your family. I choose Anna and Alex." I looked at the crowd. I only knew two people from it.

"I choose Brody and Amanda." I said. Bruce nodded and waved away the rest of the crowd. Everyone moaned with sadness as they weren't allowed to watch the rest of the fight.

As Bruce went in I got the attention of one of the crowd who got everyone to pay attention to me.

"Hey, there's a window or two on the other side. If you wanna watch me kick his ass, go take a look." Then I heard Bruce from inside.

"Hey, Mar. Hurry up. You too scared to face me?" I didn't like that. "_Maybe I should scare him by going dark on his ass. But I told everyone about the windows. Damn_" I walked through the entrance to the room. I looked around.

"Is this the dance room?" I asked, unbelieving. He nodded his head. Then he had us all sit down.

"Choose your first fighter. Mine is Anna." He said. Anna got up from the chair and offered it to Bruce. Bruce accepted it and gave her a light kiss on the cheek.

"Well. I didn't think of you as the romantic type Tremor." I said. Spyro and Cynder both laughed as I said Tremor. Bruce looked at me with confusion.

"Why did you call me Tremor?" He asked. I told him about the time on the bus when he told me to stop saying Earthquake every time he took a step. So instead, I said Tremor.

Bruce considered this for a moment.

"You know, that might not be a bad nickname for me." He said smiling. I just smiled back.

"Glad I could help." I said. Bruce just chuckled. I decided to find out what he was thinking. "_Maybe this Mar guy isn't so bad. Maybe I was too hasty._" I stared at him for a second. I didn't know he could think that way about anyone.

"Get ready, who's your fighter?" Spyro answered before I could.

"Cynder is the first fighter." He said plainly.

"Very well. Let the fight begin." He said.

"And for the record, Anna's my sister." He added as they started fighting. Anna didn't waste any time. Cynder dodged every punch and kick dished out to her. Cynder studied her movements and with one fell swoop, did a round-house kick in the air; kicking Anna in the side of the face. Anna went flying into the wall. As she hit the wall, the mirror next to her broke into pieces. Anna fell and landed on some of the sharp ones.

"Anna!" Bruce shouted. He ran over to her and tried to rip some of the pieces that weren't in too deep out.

"Anna, are you okay?" He asked again. Anna's head was resting on his lap. She was a little dazed.

"Did I win?" She asked, drowsily. Bruce looked up to me. I nodded to say that it was okay if it meant she felt better. Emotionally at least. Cynder looked at me with tears in her eyes. She didn't mean to hurt Anna that badly.

"Mar, I was never this strong before today." She said, looking at me. I looked at Spyro and Cynder.

"When I gave you the images, I also increased your strength. Just as a priority to make sure you survive attacks." I explained. Bruce and Alex were too busy with Anna to listen to me. Cynder went over to Anna to offer her help.

"I'm so sorry. Is there anything I can do to help?" She asked. Bruce looked at Cynder. Luckily, I didn't see hate in his eyes, But I did see respect there.

"Since your match is over, do you think you could take her to a hospital?" Bruce asked. Cynder nodded and grabbed Anna and hoisted her onto Cynder's shoulder, being careful not to impale Anna. Sadly, Cynder was stabbed in the shoulder by loose pieces of mirror that had stuck to Anna's shirt.

"Cynder, Hurry back." Spyro said as she exited the building.

"Your sister's not bad. She would have given me a run for my money. Or at least a tough challenge. She fights like she's possessed." I could tell Bruce was a warrior at heart. But there was something about his respect for Cynder's abilities that unnerved me.

"Well then, get ready, because Spyro's even stronger." I said as Spyro stepped onto the dance floor.

"Well then. Looks like I'm gonna have a good day after all." Spyro said as he was getting ready. Alex just looked at him with excitement in his eyes. He obviously thought that Spyro would be a piece of cake. _If only he knew_. I thought to myself. I walked over to Bruce and sat next to him. He didn't seem to mind.

"Hey, Bruce?" I called. He turned his head to me.

"I'm sorry about the bus incident. I don't think before I act sometimes." I said, trying to get on his good side. He just smiled at me and turned his head to the fight.

"I too act before thinking. It's a bad habit that I try to get out of. After this fight, let's start again from scratch. No matter who wins? How about it?" I stared at him for a second. _Did he really want to start again? If so, why? Was this a trap, or was he just trying to be nice?_ I considered all the possibilities and landed on the fact that he just wanted to have more friends than enemies. This was something I could understand.

"Sure thing. I'll warn you now though; Spyro and Cynder really like to fight, even if it's just play fighting." Mace chuckled. He thought I was being too hasty in thinking that Spyro would win.

"That is if Alex doesn't wipe the floor with your brother." He teased. I started to snigger. He had no idea what he and Alex were getting into.

"Hey Spyro?" I called. Both of the fighters turned to me. I looked at Bruce who was also staring at me.

"Make it interesting." I sneered. Spyro smiled and nodded at me. Bruce and Alex were gob-smacked. They lost all confidence, which wasn't always a good thing. But in this case, it was. Alex ran towards Spyro, hoping to get a quick 'K.O', but to his disappointment, Spyro dodged the punch that was oh so obviously coming his way. Alex went again, and again, and again. Every time he missed, he got angry. Eventually, spit was coming out of his mouth. I thought it might lessen the tension if he got a hit in.

"_Hey, Spyro. Let him hit you, just humour him._" I said. Spyro got the message. A second later, Spyro dropped his guard and let Alex take the swing he wanted. Spyro, with a little help from his unseen wings, went flying into the wall next to where Anna had landed.

"I thought you said that Alex was going to wipe the _floor_ with Spyro. Not the walls." I chuckled. Bruce just smiled.

"Maybe both." He answered. I chuckled again. Spyro got up and faced Alex, smiling. Alex was so unnerved by this, he stood very still as Spyro walked over to him.

"Gotta do better than that, mate." Spyro taunted with a British accent. Alex went ballistic. He stepped forward to give a close punch to the face. Spyro didn't do anything. Alex's hand collided with Spyro's forehead. Spyro's hair lifted a little bit but other than that, he was fine. Alex looked at Spyro with disbelief. He removed his hand to see Spyro with his eyes closed. Suddenly, Spyro's eyes snapped open and a smile spread across his face. Alex looked at me, seeing a smile across my own face. Spyro laughed at the look on Alex's face. Alex flinched. Bruce was awestruck. He couldn't understand how anyone could take a punch like that.

"How'd he do that?" Bruce finally asked. I smiled a little. I turned to him. As I was about to answer, Spyro jumped in.

"No pain receptors." He replied. He motioned for Alex to get that chair. Alex went over to get it and looked back at Spyro.

"Throw the chair at me." He said. I stood up and fetched the chair for Alex, who was frozen in place.

"I'll do it if you don't." I offered to Alex. Spyro looked at me with a smile on his face. I smiled back. Bruce was staring at the both of us.

_These guys are something else_. He thought.

"I think it's a draw." He piped up. We all looked at him. Spyro made the mistake of flashing his eyes for a second. Brody and Amanda both noticed it this time. We all heard a scream from the other end of the room. We looked towards Amanda.

"Hey, don't look at me; that was Brody." Bruce burst out laughing, forgetting what it was he was screaming for. Spyro looked at me, knowing what the reason for Brody's outburst was. "_It's alright. He can't prove anything._" I said to him as Brody was trying to explain to Alex and Bruce what he saw.

"_I think it's time we had a little chat with Brody and Amanda._" Said Spyro.

* * *

Chapter 10: Secrecy

"It's my turn." I said cheerfully. Bruce looked back at me. Fear in his eyes. I smiled at him. He looked scared shitless.

"Come on. I'm getting bored here. I need some entertainment. Spyro, would you take our guests out of the room please?" I asked. Spyro nodded and walked towards Brody and Amanda.

"Hey Alex, wanna come?" Spyro offered. Alex was staring at me with fear in his eyes. Whatever Brody had said, it was enough to make everybody stand still.

"Uh…Sure." He said nervously. He ran to Spyro, forgetting that it was Spyro's eyes that Brody saw flashing. Brody and Amanda followed Spyro, trying to get a glimpse of his eyes again.

"Let's finish this quickly; I've got some pressing matters to attend to with those two kids." I said to Bruce. He looked at me with confusion written all over his face.

"What do you mean?" He asked. I shrugged at him

"Why would you care? You don't like them, you probably never will. So why bother about them?" I replied. I saw the reaction instantly. I was right, he didn't care about them, why would he? He didn't know them; he didn't want to know them. I knew he was thinking the same thing. He smiled. He knew I was right and he was focused on the problem at hand. That's the thing about bullies. They're easily distracted. In Bruce's case, this was even easier than usual.

"Alright. Let's begin." I called. He looked at my eyes, hoping to see a shine in them. I was sorry to disappoint him but if I had shown him, I'd have to have killed him, then Alex and Anna. And probably the others as well. I didn't feel like going on a killing spree on my friends honeymoon.

"You're going down." He said after searching for what seemed like a minute. I just smiled back at him.

"You're going to have to get up before you can take me down." I retorted.

I remained calm throughout the battle. Bruce ran at me with everything he had keeping cautious. I could tell that he was the more experienced fighter. I dodged the attack and sidestepped the next. He came at me with everything he had. He was stronger than expected, but still no match against the Angel of Death. As he kept on attacking me, I started to laugh. He was taken aback by this. It was then I decided to attack. He tried an uppercut. I blocked it and karate chopped him in the Adam's apple. He gagged and gasped. He fell to his knees and crawled away. I walked up to him and gave him another karate chop to the side of the neck, knocking him unconscious.

"Not much of a challenge Bruce, but you were better than expected." I said as I walked out of the room.

Spyro was waiting for me there. Everyone else was hoping for Bruce but my emergence just fed their assumptions about us.

"Alex, Bruce is unconscious in the dance room. Go see him. I have to have a word with these two." I said as I stepped out of his way. As soon as he was out of hearing range, I started for the two remaining children.

"Now, why are you two so hell-bent on ruining our lives?" I asked, showing a little anger in my voice. Spyro flinched when he heard this. And that made them flinch.

"Just answer this. Can you all make your eyes glow?" asked Amanda. I didn't want to answer them but I figured if I did, them maybe they'd stop cornering us.

"Yes." I said. Spyro looked at the two children, his eyes shining their purple colour. Brody noticed this and motioned for Amanda to look. As she did, I could feel a scream come from her throat. As she was about to scream, I placed my hand over her mouth.

"Shush… Don't make a sound. We won't hurt you." I said trying to calm her. As she settled down, I slowly removed my hand from her face. She didn't scream anymore. She merely leaned in closer to Spyro to get a better look.

"How come your eyes glow purple when your sister's eyes glow green?" She asked. She was very observant… for a human.

"Come to our place later today. We'll explain everything there. In the mean time, please don't say anything to anyone?" I pleaded. Amanda nodded her head and shook our hands. Brody did the same thing.

"Right now, we need to get Cynder. She's part of all this. She's one of the reasons we're here." I said trying to change the subject.

Later that day, Brody and Amanda got off the bus with us. They'd already called their parents, saying they'd be at a friend's for a while.

"Okay, first thing's first. This is Mace; he's a friend of mine from our previous school. Now would you like anything to eat?" I asked. Amanda said nothing, but Brody asked for a ham sandwich.

"Is that all? Amanda you don't want anything?" I asked again. Amanda thought for a moment before asking for a drink.

"Sure thing Amanda, um… Lemonade, Coke?" Mace asked this time. Amanda shied away for a second before answering.

"May I have a Coke please?" She asked. Mace nodded with a smile on his face. He looked at me.

"This lovely lady's got wonderful manners. It's a shame you're engaged to my sister." Mace said. Brody and Amanda looked at me. I looked at Mace.

"Hang on. Who told you I was getting married to your sister?" I asked him. He pointed to Spyro and Cynder.

"They did." He said, sounding fearful of my reaction to his answer. I turned to Spyro and Cynder with a look of pure anger.

They trembled with fear, their charter marks shivering off of them. Brody noticed this and tried to get Amanda's attention.

"Hey Amanda, look at Spyro and Cynder. They're fading." Amanda complied, and saw that her brother was telling the truth. Amanda looked to the ground.

"Brody, they're dragons. Look, that's how their eyes glow. They're camouflaged by those symbols and their glowing eyes are a side effect of that camouflage." Brody took a minute to absorb this in.

"You're not far wrong, Amanda. While it's true that these two are dragons; that's not why their eyes glow. Spyro and Cynder can make their eyes glow at will. But there are times when they glow due to strong emotions such as: Anger, hate, aggression, glee, smugness, excitement, happiness etcetera." I explained. Amanda understood what I was saying, but Brody was a little slow.

"How'd you like to see Spyro and Cynder as they really are? Because you can really only see their outlines and the charter marks." I said. Brody and Amanda nodded.

"Aren't you a dragon too?" Asked Brody. I looked at him. He'd been silent since he'd pointed out Spyro and Cynder were disappearing.

"Good question Brody, and the answer is no. I'm not a dragon. I am however, not human. I'm also the reason these two managed to get here. These two dragons are legendary. They've both saved their own world countless times over. Spyro and Cynder are here for their honeymoon and I'm their Guardian." I said trying not to rush my words. Brody and Amanda looked at the two dragons who were trying to rub off the charter marks.

"Oh, sorry guys. Hang on. _Housvart_." I called and the charter marks fell off of the two dragons, revealing their colourful scales, and underbellies. Cynders wings were tucked in tightly to her body. With a massive stretch, she extended her wings and cracked her bones. Spyro did the same.

"Oh man, that felt good." Said Cynder as she stood upright. Spyro didn't say a word. He seemed to be avoiding conversations with everyone.

"Wow your scales match the colour of your clothes." Said Amanda. Brody was thinking differently this time.

"Actually, I think their clothes were supposed to match the colour of their scales. Isn't that right?" He asked Cynder. Cynder didn't have time to answer when we heard Mace cursing for dropping the kitchen knife into his foot.

"Hey, Mar? A little help?" He called. I got up to give him help when I faltered back at something. I turned to Spyro to see a charter mark on his chest. My seal was stuck on there.

"Stay there, I'm coming." I called out to Mace. He was cursing again.

"I don't have a choice; the knife is stuck in the ground." He said trying not to cry in pain. I ran over to Mace and saw the kitchen knife stuck in his foot.

"Mace what're you doing with that knife? You should use a butter knife for cutting the sandwich." I said ripping the knife out of his foot. He cried in pain.

"Gah. Fuck, man!" He shouted. I took off his boot and he cried some more, cursing me for this.

"Oh, shut up, you'll wake the neighbour's baby." I said. He started cursing again and I had to shut him up because Spyro and Cynder had stuck their heads around the corner of the kitchen to see what was going on.

"Here: _Et Arello_." I said healing the wound. Mace's cries suddenly ceased. He looked down at the hole on his sock.

"Thanks Mar." He said, helping me up from the floor.

"That's two you owe me now Mace." I said holding my index and extended fingers up. I walked away, picking Spyro and Cynder up and putting them on my shoulders. I hadn't done this in years. Spyro actually used to sit on my shoulder like a parrot on a pirate's shoulder. Cynder used to curl herself around my shoulders making her look like a dragon stole. She used to sleep there when I would walk along the edge of the mountain tops back in her dimension.

"It's been years." said Spyro. I looked up at him, glad to hear his voice again. I walked over to Brody and Amanda.

"Yeah, you used to act like a parrot with four talons instead of two clawed feet. And Cynder used to lie around my neck like a stole. If she did that you'd perch on my head." I said trying not to laugh at the last part.

"Hey Cynder, you take the shoulders, I'll take the head!" He started laughing so badly he nearly fell off my shoulder. I steadied him by extending my wing from my back and pushing him back up.

As soon as Brody and Amanda saw my wing, they jumped up and ran for the door. I jumped in front of them and they tried to knock me over. I used magic to push them back onto the floor.

"Guys, don't worry. It's just a wing. Like I said, I'm not human." Brody tried to get up but I kept him down.

"Relax. I'm not a human, and I'm not a dragon. I'm an angel." I said plainly and calmly. Amanda stared at my wing with amazement. She saw the tears and holes in the wing joints and the flaps. I saw that she was staring at my wing, so I retracted it and it embedded itself into my flesh. Like a giant spike retracting into a demons back. My wing folded in half and stretched before retracting into my body.

"Angels have feathered wings, Mar. Not Dragon wings." Brody said smartly. I scowled at him.

"Just shows what you know. I'm the only Angel with dragon's wings. I am the Angel of Death. That is why I have Dragons wings. Or had dragon's wings. Now I've only got one." I said sadly. Truthfully I didn't really care, but I thought I'd try to distract them from their objective.

"What happened to the other one?" Asked Amanda. I looked at her and released the force I had on them. If they tried to run away, I'd just pull them back.

"Whenever I heal someone aside from myself, my wings lose a piece of themselves. Hence the holes and tears in my wing. So I tried to heal Spyro after he fell into a coma, I succeeded, obviously. But I lost most of my right wing in the process. I tried a test flight… And my wing snapped off. It was irreparable. So we needed only to close the wound. I wasn't able to heal this by myself so Spyro, Cynder and Mace did it for me. Spyro needed only to get a bottle of water from the fridge. He got a bottle of vinegar from the cupboard. He couldn't read human during that time, neither could Cynder. Mace was doing something else at that time so it was just Spyro and Cynder trying and eventually succeeding to heal me." I said. I was taking so long to explain this I didn't realise the time. It was nearing six thirty.

"And we're regretting every minute of it." Said Spyro, chuckling a little.

"Anyway, it's time for you guys to go, it's now six thirty one and your parents will be getting worried." I interrupted as Brody and Amanda were beginning to laugh at Spyro's jest.

"Hey mar? How old are you really?" Amanda asked. I was surprised by the question. I didn't think that kind of question would come up from a human girl.

"I'm really twenty eight. My appearance doesn't change past twenty five though." I replied. Both Brody and Amanda looked at me with surprise. They obviously thought I was much older due to the fact I was an angel.

"Well, Mar. Thanks for the visit, and don't worry. We won't tell anyone." Said Brody.

"Thank you Brody. I know we can trust you. We'll see you tomorrow."

* * *

Chapter 11: Insurrection

"Mar…" said a distant voice. I couldn't tell who it was coming from. I recognised it though. It spoke again.

"Mar…Coming…You." It said. There was an eerie echo around the room. Now that I thought about it. Where was I? The walls were shaded in black; there were no windows or cupboards. The only thing in the whole area was me and a door that led to nowhere. It was right in the middle of the room. However, there was a light glowing from the corners and the seams of the door. I walked over to it; the voice getting louder as I did.

"Mar, I'm…For you." It said.

"Mar, I'm coming…you…

I'm coming for …

Mar, I'm coming for you." It said over and over again. It was getting clearer the closer I went to the door.

"Mar, I'm coming for you." It said. I stopped in front of the door. My hand raised itself and fell upon the door knob.

"You'd better wake up, Mar. Mar wake up. Wake up Mar…" The voice was getting louder and louder. I opened the door and saw Cynder and Spyro's faces. They were mouthing something to me."_Wake up_" That's what they were saying. As I figured out what it was they were saying; their voices became clear.

"Wake… Mar. …up, Mar. Come… Wake up…" Spyro was placing a cold towel on my head as Cynder was trying to wake me. I saw a figure standing behind Cynder and Spyro with a sword in his hand. My sword. I had to save them. I ran for the door.

As I woke up I noticed that the figure was gone. I was yelling at the top of my voice. I'd had a night mare. When I realised this, I calmed down. My body was still tense, but I was aware. My hand felt wet. I looked down to find blood on it. I looked along my arm to find it protruding through Cynder's back. I froze. Cynder was coughing on my shoulder, making it even wetter than my arm. I looked to Cynder who was staring at me with shock in her eyes. Spyro was standing where my head used to be the damp cloth in his talon. He stared at the arm that had impaled his new mate.

"Cynder… I…" I was looking for words to say I was sorry but none came to mind. I moved my arm, trying to get it out of her stomach. It was then that I noticed I had claws. They had formed from my fingers when I was asleep. As I tried to remove my arm, Cynder groaned. I stopped immediately. I didn't want to look at Spyro, just in case he had a look I couldn't shake. I tried to pull my arm out faster, Cynder's eyes flickered. I had only one choice.

"I'm sorry Cynder, but this is going to hurt." I said. She nodded slightly, to signify that it was okay.

I wrenched my arm out of her body. She screamed so loudly, the windows broke. I'd have to fix those later. Right now, Cynder was in trouble. Spyro had finally moved and was standing next to Cynder, keeping her from falling down. Spyro didn't look mad at me, just hopeful.

"Can you heal this kind of wound? Please, she's dying. I can feel it." Spyro didn't have to say any more before I jumped out of bed and positioned Cynder on the floor. Tears were coming out of her eyes and blood from her wound was mixing with the tears on the floor. Making the carpet Pink.

"Don't worry. I don't care if I lose a wing and an arm trying to heal Cynder, I'll do it. No matter what." I said trying to reassure him.

"_Et Arello!_" I cried, Magic flowed out of my hand and went into Cynder's open wound. It was working. Her back was closing, along with the blood vessels and veins. Then came her organs that were stabbed during the accident. The holes closed up and Cynder's organs rearranged themselves.

Pretty soon I was coming up to the muscles under her breast scales. I noticed several of her scales while I was healing her. I took those out for later. Now they were spinning around my head as I was sealing up her wound. Then I placed the scales in their missing places and sealed them to her flesh. When this was done, I was exhausted.

"There…Done… I'm really…Really sorry…Guys…" I said, panting. Cynder was looking herself over for anything I might have missed. Spyro walked over to me. I thought he was going to hit me. But instead, he hugged me.

"Thank you, Mar. For saving her. You didn't care what would happen to your wing, and that was in my book: the most unselfish act I've ever seen." He hugged me even tighter. I was speechless. Even Cynder came over, limping a little, but that was to be expected. She leaned in and hugged me as well.

"Yes, Mar. Thank you so much." I finally managed to speak. I wrapped my arms around both of them and hugged them back.

"I'm not going to let anything get in the way of your honeymoon. I will protect you with my last breath. Granted, I don't breathe, but you know what I mean." I said. They both laughed. I saw a shadow outside the window disappear. I was concentrating so hard on that shadow; I didn't hear Mace enter the window. He placed his hand on my shoulder, and instinctively I stabbed it with my claws.

"Gah. Christ. What is it with me and sharp things stabbing me?" He shouted. I looked up to see mace staring at his hand.

"Oh, sorry Mace. I was just…" I ripped my hand out of his; it hurt me as well, because my claws had entered my shoulder blade.

"I was concentrating on the shadow that was outside." I said. As I said it, I looked out the window and I saw the figure that was talking to me.

"Oh no." I whispered. I remembered that demon's face.

"Who is it Mar? What is it? He looks like he knows you." Cynder said, hiding behind my fading wing which I had pulled out to shield them. I was already standing up when I shielded Cynder. I was hunched over, ready to attack and defend. My claws were extended, my skin was turning grey, Purple lightning was shooting out of my body. I didn't see the significance of the lightning. It didn't damage the ground, it just shocked my enemies.

I growled low and hard. I looked to Cynder who was squeezing my leg for safety.

"That's Beo-dur. He's an old demon who hates me with a vengeance." Cynder looked up at me.

"What did you do to make him hate you so much?" She asked. I looked back to the demon who had entered the house without a sound. I growled even lower.

"I was part of a war that happened millennia ago. As you know, I can shift through time as well as dimensions. Beo-dur wanted me to lead a special team of demons through enemy lines. I refused. He thought I wouldn't go through with my betrayal. Big mistake. I took that team the same night and ordered them to kill his wife. They complied with my order, and held Beo-dur off while I gave the finishing blow to his wife. I was rather evil in those times. I was on a mission from my master, Nuke. I was sent there to kill her. But I had a few side-jobs along the way." I said. Beo-dur was getting really mad at the fact I was telling my friends this as if it was a simple conversation.

"You murdered her. You started the Insurrection in our team. You were the reason I lost my arm. You were the reason we lost the war." Beo-dur pointed out his mechanical arm to us. I just growled at him.

"He has the ability to enter dreams and make it a living hell. Unfortunately for him, that's the extent of his power." I said, trying to unnerve him.

"You've not been paying attention have you?" He said, smiling towards Cynder. I followed his gaze. My eyes rested on Cynder. I smiled.

"So. I guess you learned how to control people in their dreams?" I asked. He laughed. I didn't see what was so funny.

"Didn't you wonder why Cynder was urging you to wake up so late in the morning?" He asked. I had wondered about that.

"It's because, While you were walking towards that door in the middle of the room. I was making your arm move, piercing her flesh every step you took. That's why she was screaming for you to wake up. She figured if you were awake, you'd have stopped impaling her." Beo-dur smiled gleefully. I was horrified. I was walking so slowly in my dream. It only made sense that my arm was moving just as slowly. I looked back to Cynder. She had tears in her eyes.

"Cynder… I didn't… I didn't know." I said kneeling down to her level. She tried to calm me down.

"It's okay. I figured you were being controlled. I know that you'd never try to hurt me on purpose. Or Spyro for that matter." She said smiling. I smiled back for a second. But then I remembered something.

"Well…Except for that time on the mountain range." I said. trying to recall what happened.

"You were possessed." She argued. I was getting nervous.

"Well… Partially. I was—" Cynder interrupted me after I said that.

"Partially? What on earth do you mean by that?" She asked curiously. I could sense a little frustration in her voice.

"Well… I was mad at you for breaking my wing that day and part of me wanted to get revenge. The other part of me was possessed at the time, so since I wanted revenge, I just went with the flow. But when I saw what I was doing, I tried to stop. Saying to my self: Alright, that's enough revenge for me." I was trying to calm her down. I knew I'd pay big time for this.

"Enough talk! We fight, now!" Said Beo-dur. He was getting bored with this conversation. I was partially relieved for getting out of this dilemma. As I stood up, Cynder grabbed my collar and pulled me towards her face.

"This isn't over, Mar. I'm going to have a big talk with you after you return." She said I swallowed hard. I didn't know what was worse. Fighting Beo-dur, or facing Cynder when she was angry. I nodded nervously. She noticed this. She calmed down for now and leaned in and kissed me on the cheek.

"For luck." She whispered. She then walked over to Spyro who was staring at her. I walked over to Beo-dur.

"We fight outside." I said. Beo-dur shrugged. He didn't really care about my terms. He started to say something, but stopped.

"I'll choose where outside." He said.

"Agreed." I said. Beo-dur grabbed my collar and jumped me to some place unknown to me at the time.

* * *

Chapter 12: Old ties cut

I changed my appearance to that of my twenty five year old body. The charter marks I used disappeared when I gave the magic word.

"Let us begin!" He called. I spread my one wing, which I had noticed, didn't tear away like usual. _I'll have to look into that later_. I thought. My colour changed to a greyish purple shade. My fingers turned to claws. My ears, for the first time, extended until they were pointed like spikes.

"Beo-dur. You're going down. It's been seven years since you last saw me. I've changed." I taunted.

"I can see." He retorted. I couldn't feel any fear in him. It was then that his body changed shape. His muscles were protruding from his skin, his bones formed on the outside of his chest. His spine rippled out of his back, making his spine look like multiple dorsal fins, sticking out. He looked like the Abomination from 'The Incredible Hulk'.

As I charged, I saw students running for the doors. They had seen Beo-dur and me. The lunch bell had gone just before we'd arrived. I faltered. Beo-dur chose that moment to attack. He lashed out with his arm (which was bigger than my torso), and knocked me into the wall across from the students. I'd just missed hitting a student, which I could see was Bruce. I looked at him and saw that he thought I looked familiar. Before he found out who I was, I turned away and charged for the giant Beo-dur.

"Is this all you have, Mar?" He called. I heard the children gasp at the sound of my name.

"You'll never really know how much I've got unless I try. And I assure you, I won't need to." I teased. This made him madder. He charged for me. Perfect. He tried to grab me while he was running, but I ducked under his arms and slashed at his legs. He buckled. And fell on another student.

"Alex!" I heard Bruce cry. _Damn. If Bruce recognises me after this, I'm screwed._ I thought. I didn't have time to dwell on this, as Beo-dur charged for me again. He threw his fist at me. I had to block it with both of mine. As I did this, he hit me in the ribs with his free hand. I went flying into the wall across from the students.

"Maybe, when I'm finished with you, I'll move on to that other angel. Then…" He said walking towards me. He pushed against my chest which had three broken ribs. I cried out in pain.

"Then, I'll go on to having a little fun with your dragons. Ha ha ha ha hah" He started laughing. As he mentioned Spyro and Cynder, I snapped. I stopped screaming in pain. I stopped moving. Beo-dur noticed this. He pushed harder. I didn't budge. Then as he pushed as hard as he could, I did the scariest thing imaginable. I spoke to him in a calm tone. As if his pushing were little more than a fly pushing against a man who hadn't noticed it.

"My dragons? My dragon's names…" I started to push him back. I grabbed his hand with my left and forced him off of me. I still held it when I spoke again.

"My dragon's names… Are… SPYRO AND CYNDER!" I shouted at the top of my voice. I created a sound Barrier between us and the students. I didn't want them to know who I was talking about. My energy grew to a height unseen for thousands of years. I went Berserk. I yelled a war cry as I bent Beo-dur's hand backwards, snapping it clean off. He howled with pain. Now the only thing holding his hand to his arm was his muscles and skin. The bone was broken completely. My eyes were purely white. My hair stuck out at every angle except for the angle they were supposed to be. My skin started to crack. I was turning into the monster that had killed Mace so easily all those years ago. I cried in pain as the energy burned away my outer shell.

After all this had happened, My skin was blasted off by the energy inside of me. Beo-dur had to shield himself from the flash of light. When he looked back at me, he was scared beyond belief. My skin colour hadn't changed. My body was twice its original size, and my dark aura had manifested into a black flame around my body. I was panting. But I wasn't tired. I was angry. I wanted to rip him to shreds for even thinking about my family that way.

"Now…I'M TRULY ANGRY…BEO-DUR!" I yelled. The sound barrier had vanished after I protected them from hearing Spyro and Cynder's names. Some of them had to block their ears. Bruce didn't care. He was too hell-bent on knowing who I was.

I charged at Beo-dur at a speed he couldn't match. By the time he noticed I'd moved I was already in front of him. I gave him a hard punch to the gut. He threw up some sort of Black blood all over me. I'd gotten so huge; my shirt had been ripped off. Thankfully, my pants weren't ripped at all. I looked up at him and smiled. He saw this and he knew he was doomed.

Catching me off guard, he kneed me in the knee cap. It didn't do a world of difference though. I pushed even harder against his stomach. He coughed up more blood. The first lot of blood had already melted off of my skin.

"What's the matter, Beo-dur? Isn't this what you wanted?" I asked my voice distorted. He was so scared, he couldn't answer.

"I warned you the last time we met, that this would happen. I told you what would happen. Now, seven years later, you've come back and signed your death warrant. Because you know, I'm going to destroy you." I said. Beo-dur couldn't help but let out a whimper of fear. He turned tail and ran for the exit of the school. I stood straight up and smiled.

"Hah. Leaving so soon?" I asked as I jumped in his path. He staggered back. I saw the students running around the corner to get another look at us.

Beo-dur could see no other way to escape. Even if he jumped, he knew I'd be able to follow through is jump scar. He decided to take the offensive. He charger at me. I was ready for him. He tried to smash me into the ground by clasping his hands together and raising them over his head. It was then, that I made my move.

I shot forward and swung my arm into him, clothes lining him. He went flying back. I shot after him. As he was recovering himself. I appeared in front of him and grabbed him by the sides. I lifted him into the air and released him, falling back. As I did this, I kicked him back into the other direction. I jumped ahead of him, grabbed his head and smashed in into the ground. Then I jumped into the air and landed in the centre of his back, Breaking it into pieces. During all of this, he had lost consciousness after I kicked him back over here. My jumping on him was the thing that woke him up. He was in too much pain to make a sound. I looked down at him. I saw no sadness in his eyes; Only hate. I knew that he wouldn't stop hunting me until it killed him.

"This is the end for you." I said as I placed my foot on his neck. He struggled to say something, but I didn't let him say it. I did know what he was going to say though. I pressed down harder and twisted my foot sharply. There was a loud snap, like a thunder clap. I turned away to head back to Spyro and Cynder, when I heard another snap. I turned around. I saw Beo-dur's head moving. It was repairing the breaks. He was healing himself. I walked up to him, keeping out of his field of vision.

"Hah. That fool didn't really believe I would go down that easily. What an idiot." He sat up and saw me smiling at him. My pure white eyes making it that much more satisfying.

"Oh fuck."

He said. I reared my arm back and punched him square in the face. He was dazed. I extended my claws and impaled him through the neck. He groaned a little but other than that. I pulled on his head, trying to rip it off of the rest of him. He started to scream. I could feel the tendons in his neck ripping. I gave it one last heave. Putting my foot on his shoulder and pulling as hard as I could.

Along with half of his spine, his head came clean off.

I screamed an eerie high pitched screech. I'd never done that before. My body reverted to it's normal size and shape. I held Beo-dur's head in my hand, his spine flailing back and forth. I turned to the children. They looked scared shitless at my face. None of them were looking at the skull, but at my face.

"What?" I asked with a raspy, distorted voice. Bruce came out, trying to be fearless.

"Your mouth, it's bigger." He said, trying not to quiver with fear. I looked at him confused. I even tilted my head to the side to show my confusion.

"Your teeth alone go to the back of your jaw." He said. As soon as I understood what he meant, everyone gasped.

"What is it now?" I asked curiously. Bruce had staggered back to the crowd. I walked forward. They walked back

"Your face is normal again." He replied. I took a minute to consume this fact. What did he mean by back to normal?

"Hmm." I thought as I jumped back to Country wide cottages. I walked into the cottage to see Cynder on the floor. At first, I thought she was in trouble, but she looked up and yawned at me. Then she stretched before trotting up to me like a dog who's master had just come home.

* * *

Chapter 13: Family problems

"Hey Mar. How'd it go?" She asked. I showed her the severed head that was still in my hand.

"I brought you something for you two to chew on." I said throwing her the spine which I had snapped off. She grabbed it in her mouth easily enough. Then Spyro came out and I threw him the head. He took it happily. I sat down next to the two of them and turned on the television.

'Doom' was on. I sat there watching the Mutated humans eat and mutate their fellow humans. I looked at my hands for a minute and then they went to my face. I felt for the teeth that Bruce had mentioned before. I felt nothing. Spyro had noticed this and had accidentally swallowed a piece of bone. He started chocking.

"Spyro, oh my god. Hold on." Said Cynder as she went to get a glass of water. I knelt down next to him and squeezed his throat. I pulled upward to force the bone out. It came out like a dart covered in saliva.

"Thanks Mar. You cracked my neck in the process. Thanks again I've been unable to do that for three days and it's been bothering me." I turned away and looked at the television again.

"You're welcome." I said focusing on the movie. Cynder looked at me, then handed Spyro the glass of water. Then she jumped up on the couch and sat next to me, staring at me. I turned to her after ten seconds.

"What?" I asked rather harshly. I didn't mean to do so, but something felt weird. I had to do it.

"Are you okay Mar? You look like hell." She said. I scoffed at her, and then turned my attention to the telly again. I couldn't help myself. I didn't care about their concern at the time.

"Mar?" She continued. I growled a little and I yelled at her.

"I'm fine, Cynder!" I said. As I said this Cynder looked at my face in the strangest way. Just like those students.

"Fine. I'll leave you be." She said. Subconsciously, I wanted to stop her but I didn't. She seemed as if she was going to cry. I couldn't bare it, but I didn't move. She walked past me and stopped. She looked back at me with tears in her eyes. I didn't move my head to look at her, and I didn't want to. But I knew there were tears there.

She walked into her room and shut the door. Doom had finished and I wasn't in the mood for being available for the rest of the day, so I stood up and walked to my room. On the way, I heard Cynder crying in her own room. She'd left the door open for Spyro, but he'd gone out shortly after he'd ditched the bone fragment. I stopped walking and watched her cry. She looked up at me and saw my eyes glowing. She didn't feel like talking to me at the moment, so she crawled into the shadows and disappeared into the darkness.

"Hmph." I scoffed as I went into my room. I didn't really care about her at the time. I just wanted to sleep. I wanted to figure out what was happening to me.

I entered my room and shut the door. I looked at myself in the mirror. I tried to get my face to show these "extra teeth" as Bruce had so creatively called them. I tried forcing them out. Nothing Then I tried an emotional response. Happy: nothing, sad: nothing, Angry: Yes. An angry emotion triggered the change in my appearance. I saw the teeth extend in my mouth and overlap my cheeks. My skin turned a sickly navy-blue. My eyes went black as night. I was turning into a demon. No longer an angel, but a demon.

Nuke had warned me about this. If I were to lose my wings, I'd partially turn into a demon every time I'd kill someone. If I were to kill enough demons, I'd become a full fledged demon.

Nuke had also told me, that it was possible to become a specific demon. All I'd have to do is kill the last demon I want to become. Choose one to be my last kill and kill it to become it. However, some manifestations will occur. Example If I were to become a vampire; I'd have these teeth appear and disappear, because Beo-dur was the first demon I'd killed.

It's pretty simple. Become the last demon you kill, Have manifestations of the first demon you kill. And sometimes the second.

I saw the figure in the mirror, and I didn't like it. I got angry My teeth were fully shown and I opened my jaw. Or in this case my maw. And growled a deep low growl that scared me. I went feral. I punched the mirror, breaking it. But my arm didn't stop. It stretched. It went through the wall, and knocked over the fridge.

"Hm. I guess Beo-dur didn't figure out how to use these techniques." I pondered to myself.

"Cool" I said, giving a low growling chuckle. I heard Cynder crying again. This time, I had control of my body. But I couldn't go over there and apologize. I didn't know what to say. I figured I'd just go over there and see if she'd want to talk. Spyro would be home soon, and if he heard this, Demon or no demon, I'm dead.

I stood up and exited the room. Cynder was on the couch crying. I snuck up next to her. I knelt down and looked at her. She hadn't noticed I was there. I closed my eyes in shame. How could I have treated Cynder like this? She'd never cried like this before. Especially when I wasn't very nice to her. But then again, there wasn't a time where I wasn't nice to her. And I none day, I'd probably ruined her honeymoon. I hung my head. She heard this and looked up. I didn't though. And that probably scared her. So I decided to take what ever she threw at me. I deserved it anyway.

I lifted my head and looked her in the eye. I could see the tear drops falling from her eyes. I tried to apologise straight forward but she just blocked her ears. I tried for hours to apologise but she just sank her head deeper in between her breast scales and the pillows. I then decided to go for another approach.

"Cynder. Please, hit me?" I asked. She was taken aback by this request. I leaned in closer for her to take the swing.

"Please, Cynder do it. I can't forgive myself for the way I treated you unless you take your revenge. So please, hit me with all you've got." I said. Cynder looked startled.

"Okay. If it makes you feel better." She said angrily. I knew I was in deep shit. But I didn't move. I just waited for the attack.

Cynder hesitated for a moment, but in the long run, she slashed me across the face.

"Gah!" I shouted. Thinking I was going to react, Cynder retreated to the back of the couch. I just knelt there, taking in all the pain.

"I'll be back." I said. Cynder sounded confused. I got up and headed straight for my room.

I entered my room and picked up a piece of the mirror and looked into it. I had a scar on my right eye. The eyeball itself was okay, but my face was scared. I dropped the mirror piece and used magic to repair the mirror and made it whole. Then I fixed the hole in the wall. Then I went outside and picked up the fridge from the ground and placed it back to it's original position.

Cynder watched this with interest. I walked over to her shielding my eye with my hair.

"Now, how's about an explanation for why I did what I did?" I asked. Cynder didn't like the fact I was being so calm about all this. She brought this up and all I said was:

"Would you like me to retaliate and hit you back, even after I caused you so much pain already? Cause I sure don't want to do that. And I won't do that. Not any more." I said. I could see some of the old Cynder reappear in her eyes. But her expression was no different.

"Fine. Why'd you act the way you did? Why did you yell at me when I was only concerned for your well being?" She asked. I tried not to get tears in my eyes but I couldn't help it. A tear fell down my right side behind my hair. Blood was mixed into this, and Cynder saw it.

"Mar, are you bleeding?" She asked, worriedly. I didn't answer of a minute. I just savoured her concerned tone.

"It's less than I deserve." I replied, trying to get on her good side. It was working. Cynder walked closer to me. Still a little cautious, but still moving.

"I was affected by my kill." I said, catching her off guard. She stepped back a pace before going back to remove my hair.

"After killing Beo-dur, which was the head I gave Spyro and his spine which you ate; my kill caused this manifestation. When ever I kill a demon, I become a demon, or part demon. When I kill my last demon, I'll become that last demon. I'll also have manifestations of the first and second demon I kill. I'm now one part demon, nine parts Angel." I explained, trying to put in the simplest terms so Cynder could understand.

"So… How many demons do you need to kill?" She asked, wondering if I felt like talking after she'd just struck me.

"One down, nine to go." I answered. I saw Cynder take one more step and reached to pull my hair away so she could see the damage she'd done. I moved out of reach. I didn't want her to feel bad about hitting me.

"Mar, please?" She asked. I shook my head. She'd never forgive herself if she saw the extent of the damage she'd dealt. I knew her better than that.

"Tomorrow. Right now, I'd like to get some sleep. I suggest you do the same. I want to forget the things I've done. Tell Spyro if you want. But he'll know tomorrow. Goodnight Cynder." I said then I got up and headed off. As I turned away, a drop of blood landed on Cynder's nose.

"It's only three thirty." She said, pretending not to notice the blood. I turned back and wiped the blood off of her nose. I looked at my finger with the blood on it, and licked it.

"Mar, I'm sorry I hit you." She said, tears starting to cry again. I knelt down again and wiped away the tear falling down her cheek.

"Don't be. I'm not." I said, smiling at her. She smiled lightly. I could tell it was forced though. But I knew she forgave me. I kissed her on the forehead and left for my room.

"There's money on the kitchen bench. If you want something just order on the phone." I said as I headed for the room. Cynder whimpered a little. I turned to see that she was embarrassed.

"I don't know how to use a phone." She said shyly. I smiled lightly. Signifying that it was okay.

"Okay what do you want? Chinese? Pizza? Take a look, make your choice.' I said. Cynder searched through the catalogues and found 'Sammy's Pizza boy's' meat lovers pizza.

"That one." She said pointing. I looked at the catalogue, and dialled the number. Cynder watched with curiosity as I placed the order.

"How many do you want Cynder?" I asked. She tilted her head at the catalogue. She stared at me.

"How big are they supposed to be?" She asked. I asked the pizza guy to hold on a second while I showed Cynder how big they were.

"Oh can I have three please?" She asked. I was a little surprised to hear her ask for three, but if it made her happy then I'd gladly give them to her.

"Okay, yes hello? Okay, yes I'd like four large meat lovers pizza's please. And could you put extra ham on it please? Thanks. The delivery's is at Country wide cottages. Yes, in Barham. Thank you. How much is that? Forty three ninety five? Okay I'll meet him out there. Thanks. Bye" I said, putting the phone in the holster. I smiled at Cynder who was a little embarrassed at having three pizzas.

"Hey, Mar?" She asked, I turned to her. She looked at me with confusion.

"The boys at school yesterday were talking about this guy called 'Strassman'. Who is Strassman?" She asked. I motioned for her to sit down on the couch and look at the television. I went into my room and pulled out a DVD called 'Strassman Live!' I placed the DVD into the player and played the movie.

"Strassman is a famous Ventriloquist who makes people laugh by having his ventriloquist puppets insult either the audience or their friends. And sometimes Strassman himself." I said. But I won't give away too much. Here it is. Watch and enjoy. I'm gonna go get the pizza from the front of the country wide." I said. Cynder gave me a hug and said goodbye.

As I exited the cottage, Spyro was standing there in the door way with four pizza boxes. He looked confused.

"Uh, these came for us I think." He said. I could smell the meat lovers. I nodded to Spyro to enter.

"Three of those are Cynder's the other one is yours. If you're lucky, she may share another one with you." I said, laughing. Spyro chuckled along with me.

"Hey Mar. How come your hair's covering your face?" He asked. I didn't answer directly.

"Headache. I can only see through one eye without my head hurting." I replied. It was stupid but it worked.

"Okay, see you soon. Where're you going, For a walk?" He asked. I nodded and walked away. As soon as Spyro was in the door, I jumped onto the roof and listened in on their next conversation.

"Hey Cynder, Your Pizza's here. They arrived on the road. The guy asked for that paper Mar gave me. I don't get it. I gave him a yellow one and he gave me this pink note and two gold cookies." _Oh fuck, They're going to eat the cookies, I mean coins_.

"Mar said that three of these boxes are yours. What're you going to do with all of that?" He asked.

"Well, maybe if you're lucky, I'll give one to you. That way we'll all have one. Mace is out of town for the day." Said Cynder.

"What about Mar?" Asked Spyro. Cynder looked at him confused.

"One of the boxes is his." She answered. Spyro tilted his head at her remark. He then looked to the door.

"Mar said one was for me, and that If I was lucky, you'd give me one so we'd be even." Said Spyro.

"Oh. Then… what about Mar? What's he gonna eat.?" As soon as Cynder asked the question, they heard a sound from out the back.

"What was that?" Spyro asked placing the boxes on the coffee table. A dingo's head hit the window and scared the living day lights out of Cynder. Spyro however jumped in to protect her from whoever, or whatever was out there.

* * *

Chapter 14: Angels and Demons

Spyro opened the door and stepped out of the cottage. Followed closely by Cynder. They both stopped in front of the dingo's head. It's expression was that of pure fear. Spyro and Cynder could both see it, and they were both unnerved. I was overwatching the whole thing. Blood dripping from my mouth. I dropped behind them. Spyro and Cynder screamed. They saw a dark figure with two luminous, disk like eyes. They didn't know it was me at the time, but I wasn't aware of their presence either. I was concentrating on the dingo's head. As I came into sight, Cynder sighed, but Spyro stood his ground.

"Relax Spyro, it's only Mar." She said. I suddenly saw the two dragons as clear as day. My mind was racing. _Were they friends? Were they others after my prey? Were they prey themselves?_ I looked between the two of them. I recognised them immediately. My mind had become primitive in the short time I was away. I was listening to their conversation with particular interest, when this dingo appeared. It was pure instinct that overcame me. _Damn Beo-dur. I'll have his head if he ever comes back to life._ I thought. I walked over to the dingo's head and picked it up. Cynder looked at me.

"Um, You're not going to put that in your mouth are you?" She asked I paused. _Did she want it or was she just grossed out_. I couldn't get my mind straight between instinct and sense.

"Why not? I've already had most of her." I said. my teeth spreading to the back of my maw. Spyro flinched as he saw this. I just shrugged the gesture off and leaned my head back. I placed the dingo's head in my mouth and bit down hard. Bones snapped and blood squirted out of the creature. But that didn't stop me.

"Did he say her?" Cynder asked. She was appalled at the thought of me eating a female animal. I swallowed the head whole. The size of the head stretching my neck. Veins split in half and caused bruises and blood marks. But it didn't bother me.

"Her… and her pup'." I said. I chuckled. It was a low chortle that sounded like a growl as well as a chuckle. Cynder shivered with displeasure. I turned to the possum that was creeping across the floor. I spotted him, and he knew it.

He made a run for it. That only fuelled my fire. I leaped over the back porch and onto the ground. I shot after the possum with incredible speed. Spyro and Cynder were watching for a single second before I caught the possum and swallowed it whole. Spyro and Cynder both shivered with displeasure this time. They weren't used to this type of brutality, not even from another dragon.

"Hey Cynder. I just thought of something. Wouldn't it have been great if Mar could do this to Malefor when he was still alive?" Spyro asked. Cynder giggled.

"Yeah I know what you mean. Bot swallowing Malefor, I doubt he could do that. I mean: A wolf and a possum is one thing, but a fully grown dragon? Come on. Be realistic." She said. I was listening to this conversation with little fascination. I stumbled upon a crocodile in the river not too far away. It was crawling this way. I could hear it. I thought it best to wait.

"Hah. Absence makes the heart grow fonder." I said as I leaped back to the back porch at the back of the cottage.

"What?" Asked Spyro and Cynder together. I motioned for them to keep silent. I pointed towards the crocodile's whereabouts.

"I think I'm getting the hang of this. I just need to control my eating habits." I said smiling at the two dragons.

As a snout appeared in the distance, I jumped at it. I landed on the crocodile's back and broke it in three places. I then decided it'd be too cruel to eat it alive. So I snapped it's neck clean off. I opened my maw and swallowed it whole. Spyro and Cynder were watching with looks of surprise. I then broke off it's forearms and swallowed them. Next were the rear legs, then the torso and then the tail.

I jumped back onto the porch and went inside.

"Hey come on guys, your dinner's getting cold." I said. Spyro and Cynder just stood there. Staring at the place where the crocodile used to be.

'I don't know about you Spyro, but…I've lost my appetite." Said Cynder. Spyro couldn't say much

"Yes…Appetite…Gone…sick." He said he ran to the side of the back porch and flew into the woods to throw up.

Cynder looked back to the crocodile's death place, then to the pizzas.

"I think I'll join you." She said running into the bushes after him. I just laughed and laughed.

I heard a third rustling in the bushes and a scream afterwards. Cynder's scream. I couldn't let them get hurt. I ran towards Cynder's last destination. She was there, but some sort of rabid monkey was after her. I growled at it. It turned it's head and I saw red eyes looking at me. It was some sort of were-monkey. It turned back onto Cynder and charged. I jumped in front of it, scaring it shitless. The were-monkey growled a little. I spread my wing, and screeched at it. A challenge. A fight to the death. It was then I noticed there were two wings instead of one. I looked them over. The wings were a different shade of black. They were the same colour as Cynder's. I didn't get it. Why Cynder's wings? Why not just my wings? Or did it have something to do with my healing her?

"That's very interesting." I said The were-monkey had tried to get past me but I stopped it in it's tracks by stabbing it's hand with my wing tip. I then grabbed it by the scruff and extended my index finger. It was pointing in to it's face.

"You're a monster!" It said with a squeaky voice. I almost couldn't understand it. I smiled at it. My eyes shining their spooky yellow.

"Me, a monster? Ha,ha,hah, no. I am a DEVIL!" I shouted. As I said "devil", my finger shot through the were-monkey with great force it burned some of the fur on it's collar. It screamed in terror and pain.

"Final Shine!" I shouted. Vegeta's favourite technique. I saw it being used on that Super 17 guy during my training years. My hand light up the woods as my energy blast completely destroyed the were-monkey.

As soon as the were-monkey was gone, I felt my wings shake. I felt something pulling at my tail bone and a rip in my pants. I blushed. _Had they actually ripped? And if so, Where?_ I felt around for the rip. My hand landed on something thin, furry and long. _What is that?_ I thought. Cynder moaned again, thinking I was going to be aggressive like before.

"Mar, you have a tail now." She said. She flinched away as I turned around. She obviously thought I was going to yell at her again.

"Oh thank god. I thought my pants had ripped." I said cheerfully. I started laughing. Cynder followed suit.

"Hey, what's going on?" I heard Spyro from the west of the battle arena. He met up with us and saw my new wings and tail.

"I saw a green flash and came to investigate." He said. He looked me over and sighed. Then he stood next to Cynder.

"Nice tail." He said smiling. I walked up to them and picked them up and placed them on my shoulders like last time. I retracted my wings and ran as fast as I could back to the cottage.

I ran to my mirror and looked myself over.

"Oh great. Just great. I look like a Saiyan. Huh, what're the odds?" I called out. As I exited my room, I saw Spyro and Cynder staring at me, fear in their eyes. Cynder had informed Spyro of the incident that had occurred earlier that day, and how she'd ended up in the middle of it.

I smiled at them to show I was unaffected. As soon as I'd done this, they relaxed. I started to walk over to them, but their relaxation wasn't meant to last. A bird hit the window behind the television. I ran outside to get the bird, but it was already gone.

"Why did that bird hit the window like that?" Cynder asked. I re-entered the cottage and answered her question.

"Birds can't see windows. They die all the time because of this. But most birds are smart enough to stay away from the windows. This one obviously wasn't one of them." I said trying to calm them down a little.

"Mar, would you have eaten that bird if it hadn't flown away?" Spyro asked. I could tell that Cynder wanted to know as well.

"Most likely, yes." I answered. They both looked at me with their jaws hanging down. They couldn't believe it.

"But Mar, You've already eaten: A dingo, a possum and a crocodile. Take away those and you'd have been able to eat me when I was serving Malefor." She said a little nervously.

"I could have eaten both you and Malefor, and still had room for those animals out there." I said plainly, not knowing what the problem was. Both dragons just stared at me with sheer disgust.

I heard a loud thump on the roof. Spyro and Cynder stood ready to defend themselves. I just looked up, not bothering to make a stance.

"What was that?" asked Cynder who was walking behind me ready to defend me from what ever it was. I wrapped my tail around her waist and pulled her back in front of me. She squealed when my tail wrapped around her, but when she realised it was me, she calmed down. As I placed her gently next to Spyro, I spun around and extended my arm grabbing a demon by the neck. The demon had broken through the roof and tried to surprise me. But I was just too fast for it. This demon looked strange, familiar even. It was a were-wolf. These were built for great speed and strength. They even had great regenerative abilities.

"This should be fun." I said frightening all three of then. I smiled at the wolf. He just snarled. I jumped through the hole he'd made. Spyro and Cynder wanted to watch this time. They stood on the roof, while I fought on the ground. I threw the were-wolf across the yard. He managed to balance himself before going on the offensive. All that in one second. I wanted that speed.

He grabbed my by the scruff and threw me into the ground and jumped on me before kicking me across the yard. I jumped behind him and knocked him into the air. He can't dash if he's in the air. I jumped up behind him and hammered him back to the ground. He flipped in the air and landed on his legs, creating a small crater. He was about to jump after me when I clothes lined in even further into the ground. The crater increased ten-fold.

"Ouch. That's gotta hurt." said Spyro who was actually enjoying this little match of mine.

"You want a turn?" I offered. Before he could answer, the were-wolf knocked me into the ground and jumped into the air. It spun around and dived down at me. I was dazed. I couldn't see him coming until it was too late. He rammed me in the gut. I yelled at the top of my voice.

"GAH!" I cried. The wolf chortled. He was entertained by my pain. In that instant, I stopped screaming. I wasn't about to let him enjoy himself. As I stopped, so did he. I pretended to be unconscious. My eyes closed, I could sense him closing in for inspection.

As his face almost touched mine, I opened my eyes. They shone yellow in the night sky. My smile making me seem even more dangerous. My maw was opening and I was hungry. He'd make an excellent desert. He tried to speed away, but I caught him by the neck and pulled him closer. He was whimpering and crying. I suddenly stopped. I realised I didn't need to kill him instantly, just bite him. I placed my teeth on his shoulder. He started crying even harder. Spyro and Cynder were watching, waiting for the end to come. I bit down hard on the were-wolf's shoulder, taking in the taste of his blood. I then injected a venom into his body which would kill him slowly, but painlessly. He whimpered as I bit down. It took me a second to release him. He stared at me.

"Can you understand me?" I asked angrily. He nodded, and then started shaking. He was scared of my abilities.

"I'm going to let you go. Do what you want. Have a good life, however short it may be." I said. He nodded rapidly; glad to hear he was going to live to fight another day.

I released his neck and relaxed. He didn't leave. He paused for a second before licking me and then ran away.

"Mar?" I heard a voice call quietly. I didn't recognise it at first. I was too tired and too hurt. My eye, which was still covered by my hair, was bleeding again. My stomach hurt like hell and I was trying to keep conscious. I saw a purple blur walk up to me and stop. Then I saw a dark violet blur next to that. I lost consciousness after that.

* * *

Chapter 15: Woods of Hell

"Hey Spyro, come here. Look at this. He's good as new." said a voice. I recognised it but I couldn't remember the person's name. I was waking up, the last thing I remembered, was a tongue going across my face. I sat up and regretted it instantly. My stomach hurt like hell and my eye was throbbing. I noticed the hair that was supposed to be covering my eye was gone. But there was no blood either. I heard the voice saying for me to lie down. I did so happily. I didn't like the feeling that was going on in my head. I couldn't think properly, I couldn't see properly. I felt the blood of the were-wolf coursing through my own veins, healing my eye. I tried to look again and I could see Cynder with a towel. I remembered yesterday morning and so I threw my arms under my back so I couldn't do anything.

This action made Cynder flinch. She saw what I did and relaxed. She looked at my eyes and over to my right eye. Spyro had entered the room and was following her gaze. They stared at my scar and noticed that it looked three weeks old. I was reading their minds and using their eyes as a mirror. The bottom of my scar was open but it was slowly closing. It took ten seconds to seal up. Then Cynder looked at my stomach. The bruises were fading. Spyro followed her gaze again. He saw that my stomach had more muscles than before.

My vision turned red. I sat up instantly and ignored the pain coursing through my body. My teeth stretched again creating my maw. I growled as my muscles flexed and grew. My skin was stretched and my veins were showing. The blood could be seen flowing through my body. I grew a little taller too. My growling was replaced by panting. My vision was back to normal. I had complete control of my body. My scar was closed. My stomach was completely healed. I was stronger. I was faster. I was three parts Demon, seven parts Angel. I stopped panting and looked over to Spyro and Cynder. I could smell their fear. I thought of switching my vision. It turned red again. I could see their body heat. I could hear their heart beats. I could hear the bus for school. I turned towards the bus's direction. It was a mile from the entrance.

"Hey, guys. I'm still me. Get ready for school, the bus is coming, quickly. Go." I said trying to rush them out the door. I drew the charter marks in the air. I placed them on the two dragons. Spyro and Cynder grabbed their things and ran out the door.

"Aren't you coming?" Spyro asked. I shook my head.

"No. Tell them, I've got the flu." I said trying to rush them out to the entrance of Country Wide Cottages. I grabbed their hands and ran to the entrance. It took five seconds to get from the cottage to the entrance. By the time we got there the bus was coming around the corner.

"Okay. Have a great day and I'll see you when you get home." I said. I kissed Cynder on the forehead and hugged Spyro. Then I ran out of sight from the bus driver. I ran straight past the other cottages, and into ours. I ran out the back, and started to exercise my body. I jumped high above the trees; I jumped across the river down the mountain. I did everything I could think of. I ran to the edge of the mountain and saw a large square of farms. On those farms were sheep and cows and horses. I took a few steps back and did a running jump off the edge of the mountain, falling thousands of metres to the ground. I landed in the middle of a barn house. Unfortunately, the farmer was standing right next to me with a pitchfork in his hands.

"Alright mate. Get up. I can't allow you to steal from my crops." He said raising the pitchfork. I smiled at him. My maw opened. I was fairly hungry, and this guy would be a good start.

"What the hell?" He said dropping the pitchfork on my foot. I looked down at the blood. I grabbed the fork and ripped it out of the ground, freeing my foot.

"Hey, mate. I'm sorry 'bout that. You just startled me is all." He said. I tilted my head at him.

"Now why does a farmer beg for his life after making threats at his unarmed victim?" I asked. He started shaking. My maw was opening even wider. I was drooling a little. I didn't really like my outward appearance, but I enjoyed the advantages.

"Please. Don't hurt me, mate. I'll do anything." He said whimpering. He reminded me of the were-wolf. But I wasn't about to let him live. I grabbed him by the neck and snapped it in half. He went limp in my hand. I drew him closer and leaned over his head. I placed my mouth over it and bit down on his neck. He jerked a little and his head came clean off.

The fact that he jerked, scared me. I'd broken his neck, but he wasn't dead. Only after eating his head, had I killed him. His wife was watching in the background. I turned my head in her direction. She had a shotgun in her hands and her finger on the trigger.

"Put my husband down." She ordered. I noticed a child behind her. She looked familiar. No older than Spyro of Cynder. I got a closer look at the girl. I'd dropped the farmer on the floor and had begun to walk over.

"Stay away from my Anna you monster." She shouted, shielding her daughter. I froze._ Anna._ _Was it really Anna? The girl that had fought Cynder and lost?_ I stared at the body on the floor. I turned back to Anna and her mother. She cocked the shotgun. She aimed it at me.

"I'm sorry." I said as the woman started to pull the trigger. They both faltered. The woman looked up at me.

"Sorry? How can a monster be sorry?" She asked. I pondered the question for a minute.

"You're right. I'm not sorry. It was his fault for being in here I the first place." I said. The woman lost her temper and fired. The bullets bounced off of my body. One got stuck in my long hair.

"You shouldn't have been here in the first place." She retorted. She fired again. I wasn't paying attention. I was just picking the bullets out of my hair.

"I can't choose where I land in a jump. Tell me. Is her brother's name Bruce?" I asked. The woman went berserk. She started speaking gibberish. Saying that it was none of my business. In the meantime, she hadn't noticed I was walking towards them.

"Tell me Anna. Do you know what to do when your parents are gone? Do you know who to go to?" I asked. Anna shook her head.

"Hm. Maybe you should go to those least likely to help you." I said. The woman was screaming again. Telling me not to fill her head with such things. I smiled at Anna, and with lightning speed. Bit her mother's head clean off.

Anna's mother just stood there for three seconds before falling to the ground. I swallowed her head whole, not bothering to chew. Anna just stood there. I stared at her. She showed no emotion towards her mother's sudden death.

"Did you know, that a Velociraptor stares at you, keeping you distracted while it's team mates attacks you from the side?" I asked. She looked to her right for an instant. Then she looked back, but I was already gone. I was on the roof watching her make her way to the car out the front.

Anna pulled in to the school car park after she arrived. I had followed her at a safe distance. My form had returned to normal. And when I say normal, I mean no elongated maw, or pumping veins. Just normal face, but big muscles and long hair.

"Excuse me, can I speak to Bruce and Alex please?" asked Anna. Mr. Howard was teaching history and he stared at Anna with interest. I was watching from outside where no one could notice me._ I guess some things can't change._ I saw Bruce and Alex get up and walk out of the room and walk into the corridor. I jumped to another window where I could get a better look at their conversation.

"What's wrong Anna, you seem scared." Said Bruce. Anna was crying her eyes out by now.

"Mum and dad are dead. They were killed by some sort of monster." She said. Trying to pull herself together.

"What?" Bruce said. He didn't believe what he was hearing. He patted his little sister on the head.

"Anna are you coming down with something? You know all too well that monsters don't exist." I couldn't believe it. Alex didn't believe her. Bruce didn't mention what happened yesterday. I decided to help her prove it to Alex.

I changed my features again. My jaw extending, turning into a maw. My veins rippling. Muscles pumping out even further. I moved about trying to catch her eye. It worked. She pointed to me and they both looked in the direction she was pointing at. They both saw me, my maw opening and closing. I jumped back to the cottage. And returned to the way I was before. I ran to my room and put on a different pair of pants. Something black. I then put on a white tank top. I really needed to do some washing. I put Spyro and Cynder's clothes in with mine. And cleaned them while I cleaned up the cottage.

As I cleaned up the last of the rubble, Mace entered the room. I stopped in mid stride, holding bits of the roof on my arms and a chandelier in my mouth.

"Mace. Glad you're here. Can you help me clean up the roof? I asked. He stared at me, then at the hole in the roof.

"What went through it now?" He asked. I answered cheerily.

"Were-wolf." He looked at me. Then he shrugged and picked up some of the debris and placed it in the middle under the hole in the roof.

"Okay. Let's fix this bitch._ Dundier_!" I called. The debris lifted off the ground and re attached itself to the hole in the roof. Then I called another spell for it to stick to the hole.

Within Minutes, the hole was fixed and the roof was as good as new. I swooped up the dust on the floor and forced it outside for the winds of nature to catch and do with as it pleased. It was four o'clock and Spyro and Cynder were nowhere to be seen. I was hanging the washing out, when there was a knock at the door.

"Mace, Can you get that please?" I called. Mace was in the kitchen preparing dinner, he'd just put a roast in the oven and closed it when I called.

"Yep' just a second." He called to the people at the door. I was hanging out some of Spyro's shirts when Mace called out.

"Hey Mar, we've got guests." I paused and used the charter to change my appearance to my eighteen year old self. I continued to hang up washing when Spyro and Cynder entered the back porch.

"Hey Spyro, Cynder. How was school?" I asked. Spyro jumped off of the porch and walked up to me. He didn't look happy.

"Did you kill Bruce's parents in front of Anna?" He whispered. I moved the clothesline and saw Bruce, Alex and Anna talking to Cynder. I looked back to Spyro and turned the clothesline back so they couldn't see us.

"I didn't know they were their parents until I killed the farther. And the mother was just pissing me off." I said in my defence. Spyro just sighed.

"Please tell me that it was instinct and not choice?" He asked me. I nodded. He looked relieved by this. I finished putting their clothes up on the line and walked back into the cottage. I saw Anna and Alex crying, holding each other. Bruce was talking with Mace.

"Hey, guys. Spyro told me what happened. I'm terribly sorry for your loss." I said. I looked at Cynder, signifying to her that it was me. She frowned and hung her head. She was trying to comfort Anna by placing her hand around her.

"Now Spyro said it was some sort of monster that killed them?" I said trying to break the silence. Alex nodded. He had tears in his eyes, and they were blood shot. He looked like he was in a fight. I looked over to Bruce, who was staring outside.

"What is it Bruce?" I asked. Everyone looked at him then followed his gaze. Outside was a big spider like demon. Alex gasped. He had never seen anything like that before.

"Is that what killed them Anna?" I asked. She shook her head and ran up next to me.

"No. It looked human, almost. It had teeth that went back past it's jaw. It bit off both our parent's heads." I stared at the demon._ Please don't come here. Please don't come here._

My prayers weren't answered. The spider crawled over to the cottage and climber onto the roof. _Oh not the roof. I just fixed that._ I thought. I had to find a way to kill the demon without showing them my own demonic abilities. If I did that, they'd recognise me instantly. I had to kill it.

"Mace, Take everyone into my room and lock the door. Make sure nothing gets in but make sure that you can get out." I said pointing to my room. Mace complied with my command.

"What about you?" Asked Anna. She sounded genuinely worried. _Oh great, not another Amber_. I thought.

"I'll try to get it away from here." I replied. I led her into the room and shut the door. I ran for the back entrance. And jumped off the back porch. The Spider demon followed me into the woods. Unfortunately, everyone had exited the room after the spider jumped off of the roof. I couldn't kill it. Not while they were watching. I had to run away.

"Hey! Over here you ugly son of a bitch!" I shouted at it. The spider spoke to me, it caught me by surprise.

"Don't you mean _Daughter_ of a bitch?" It said. I ran even faster. I was out of range from the cottage. I stopped running, and turned on the spider. It faltered.

"Were you listening to what those people were saying about their parents? How some monster ate their heads?" I asked.

"That wasn't me. I'm only here for you." She said. I smiled at her and my jaw turned into a maw.

"Oh I know. It was me that killed them. I didn't know they were their parents specifically. All they were to me was breakfast. Do you know how many lives I've taken in the past couple of days?" I asked. The spider shook her head.

"Eight. Eight lives, including three demons who's abilities I've copied. My tail is a manifestation if the second demon I killed. My maw and hunger issues are a manifestation of the first demon, and my speed and strength is a manifestation of the most recent demonic kill. A were-wolf's blood does wonders for the body." I said frightening the demon. I'd killed three demons all in the same day. She was getting worried.

"What type of demon was the first one?" She asked curiously. I smiled at her. I opened my maw and spoke in Beo-dur's voice.

"I was an Infiltrator. I could make anyone do anything, so long as they were asleep. I could also turn into an abomination of demonic strength." I replied. My voice unnerved the spider.

"I was known as Beo-dur. The second demon Mar killed was a Were-monkey. It's name is unknown to us, that's how Mar got that tail. The third demon was a were-wolf. He's not dead yet, but he will be in a year. Mar injected a slow but painless venom. He also took some of his blood. And you're next. There won't be anything left of you when Mar's done with you. He won't even take any powers." The spider screamed at me.

"STOP TALKING IN THIRD PERSON. IT'S CREEPY!" She yelled. I just smiled slyly at her.

"You're the one known as a creepy crawly." I said laughing. My voice was distorted. I crouched down and lunged for the spider. Her screams echoed through the woods. I ran down to Anna's farm and grabbed a chainsaw from the barn. I ran up and cut at the now deceased spider's abdomen. Black blood squirted onto my clothes.

"Aw crap. I only wanted a bloody chainsaw, not clothes. Oh well, I guess it'll prove that I killed it with difficulty. I saw small scythe like claws on the edge of the spider's legs. I broke one off and slashed one across my chest and arms. Once across my leg to be sure. Now I looked like I'd had a rough time.

I limped up to the cottage with the chainsaw in my hand. Cynder was watching for me while Spyro and Mace were trying to comfort the others.

"He's back!" She squealed happily. Everyone looked up at me with shock. Spyro ran over to me to help me balance.

"Mar are you alright? Was it really difficult to kill?" He asked. I just stared at him. I couldn't believe it.

"Oh no. It was a synch. All I had to do was hit it in the head and stab it with this." I said, sarcastically holding up the chainsaw.

"Are you really sure it's dead?" He asked. I wanted to throw the chainsaw at him. Of course it was dead.

"Oh no I let it go and it thanked me and promised not to hurt anyone ever again.

"OF COURSE IT'S DEAD. I HACKED IT TO PIECES!" I was losing my temper with him.

"Now I really need a nice cold shower." I said, surprising every one.

"Cold? But it's the middle of winter. Why cold?" Asked Anna. I turned to her and smiled.

"Because the spider's blood is burning my skin." I said, trying to remain calm.

* * *

Chapter 16: Steps

"Mar. What do you think will happen to them?" asked Cynder. I was leaning against the kitchen bench with her, discussing whether we should keep them here. I was planing on adopting them. I looked up at them. Anna met my gaze and smiled a little.

"I think we can't let them be alone. We have to stay together. That demon probably has friends or family that want to rip us to pieces right now. We should protect them." I replied. Cynder nodded.

"Do you think the demons will come after them?" She asked. This got everyone's attention. They all looked at me. I sighed, trying to think of the right words.

"I don't know. I think that these demons will come after all of us. They believe you've helped me kill that thing out there. So they'll want a piece of you guys as well. The best thing we can do is stay together." I replied. Everyone was silent.

"Bruce, Alex, Anna. You're all orphans now, correct?" I asked. Bruce and Alex nodded. I didn't get any response from Anna.

"Well consider yourselves part of the family. Or at least until we're all safe." I said trying to perk them up. Luckily, it did perk them up. Anna jumped up and ran over to me to give me a great big kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you Mar. You're very kind. I'm sorry we started out enemies." She said. I started to laugh.

"Oh is that what we were? I thought we were just plain old children with attitudes. I had no Idea that we were mortal enemies that were going to fight to the death." I said, making them all laugh along.

"What were your last names by the way?" I asked. All this, and I didn't know their last names.

"Baxter." Anna answered. I smiled at her. I looked at Bruce and laughed. Bruce looked confused.

"Bruce Baxter? Hah that's like Bruce Baxter from that movie." I said. Bruce understood now and joined in.

"Hey, Mar. Now that I'm part of your family, Can I change my first name?" He asked. I nodded at him and the rest of them as well.

"Good. I want the nickname you came up with. I want to be called Tremor Grimm." He said. I smiled, and then chuckled a little.

"As you wish. Tremor." I said.

It was after ten and everyone had gone to bed. Everyone except for Spyro and me.

"Mar, Are you going to tell them about your advantages against Demons?" Whispered Spyro.

"It depends. Are you going to tell them that you and Cynder are really two dragons? And that you're here for your honeymoon?" I retorted. Spyro frowned at me.

"Mar. They'll find out eventually. You can't keep something like that from them. You killed their parents. They'll find out and they'll betray you to the demons. That's what humans do isn't it." I scowled at him.

"You know that their parent's death was an accident. I'm still getting used to my demonic aggression. I was acting purely on instinct. If I'd have known that they were Anna's parents I wouldn't have killed them. But when I saw Anna, I regained control. I mean it wasn't until after I killed her mother, that I got a good look at her. I was devastated by what I'd done." I explained to Spyro in detail. What had happened. Spyro looked at me disbelieving.

"And why did you take them in? You've endangered us all by doing this." Said Spyro. He was getting angry now.

"I couldn't leave them in the street. Not after I killed their parents. I just couldn't bare that. I may be dead, but that doesn't mean I don't get heartache." I replied.

"Hey. Spyro, come to bed. It's eleven in the evening. Come on." Said Cynder. She the just noticed me sitting across from Spyro.

"Oh Mar. You want to sleep in our room? We won't do anything while you're in here." Cynder smiled sheepishly at me.

"Thanks darling, but I'm going to watch out for other demons. I can't let anything happen to you or them." I said. Cynder sighed and gave me a kiss goodnight. Spyro hugged me and turned in for the night.

Little did I know, Anna was listening from behind the door of my room.

"What can I do to apologise? I'll have to tell them eventually. But how?" I pondered to myself aloud.

"You could tell me what you are? I've been keen to know." Said Anna. I hadn't heard her open the door, let alone exit her room.

"Anna. You didn't hear did you?" I asked. I was getting nervous. _Did she hear me? Did she just wake up? What?_

"I heard. You killed my parents. But you weren't in control. I understand. But if you want to apologise to me, you can tell me what you are. And is it true that Spyro and Cynder are really dragons?" She asked. I nodded. She smiled. I was feeling a little better. But it wasn't over yet.

"I'm not a dragon like them. I'm an Angel. Well… Mostly. I've killed four demons. Now I'm two thirds Angel and one third Demon." I tried to explain. Anna nodded slightly.

"You see: When I kill a demon, I become part demon. I have to kill ten in order to become a fully fledged demon." I explained.

"So you get certain abilities from any demon you kill?" She asked. I nodded. _How did she know?_

"They're manifestations. Like my tail." I said. Anna tilted her head in confusion. She couldn't see a tail on me.

"But… You don't have a tail." She said. I pointed at the furry belt around my waist. It unravelled itself from around my waist and went to the side. Anna gasped. She'd never seen a tail on a human before.

"You look like a Saiyan from Dragonball Z." She said plainly. I held my breath, trying not to laugh. I did however snigger a little.

"That's what I said after I got it." I said trying to keep my composure. Anna giggled a little.

"Look. You don't have to worry about me hating you for killing my parents, but Bruce and Alex might be a different case altogether." She said.

"It's Tremor now." Said a voice from their room. Bruce and Alex came out of the room. The door was left open, and I just then realised that we weren't whispering. I stepped back, unsure of Bruce's intentions.

"Bruce, I—" I couldn't speak. I was too afraid I'd say something to make it worse. I tried to find the words to express my sorrow for them.

"I know that you all probably hate me for not saying something. I led you to believe that I was your friend, that you could trust me. That I could replace your parents. But I kept their deaths a secret from you. Do what you want. I won't retaliate. Stab me, hit me, burn me. Whatever. I deserve it. I finally removed my hair from my eye. I wanted them to see what happened last time.

"I hurt Cynder yesterday. I yelled at her when she was only concerned for my well being. This is an example of what you can do to me. I won't stop you." I said.

"I heard your conversation with Spyro as well. I understand that you didn't have control of your intentions. I can understand that. Remember? I too can act without thinking. Sometimes I can't think. I can only act. And remember. It's Tremor, not Bruce." He said smiling. I was taken aback. _Did Tremor really forgive me?_ Alex however, was a different story.

He walked up and punched me in the gut and threw me across the room. I stood up and waited for him to appear. He grabbed me by the collar and head butted me. That annoyed me. My jaw turned into a maw as my head came back from behind my back. Alex dropped me on the ground and hid behind Tremor's back. My eyes glowed. I waked up to them and raised my arms to the side. My maw turned back into a jaw.

"Come on. I said I wouldn't fight back. Let it all out. I said. I spat a little blood on the floor. Alex stepped in front of me again. He tried a power punch. It hit me square in the forehead. Unfortunately, it didn't do anything to me. But it did however hurt him. He gripped his hand and bit his lip.

"Don't stop. I can tell you're only a quarter of the way there." I said trying to provoke him. He stared at me surprised. He took another swing with his good hand. He hit me in the temple. That gave me a massive headache. I actually went on one knee.

"Mar!" Called out Cynder. Spyro had to hold her back I raised my hand to stop her. She hesitated for a second, then relaxed.

"You two are next." Alex said. Everyone looked at him. I stood up. My maw about to open wide as hell. My eyes blazing white fire.

"Why? What did they do?" I asked yelling at him. He cowered away. I grabbed him by the scruff of his collar, choking him in the process.

"I can take people hitting me for doing something. But I won't stand for them hitting someone else for something I did. That's where I draw the line." I said, bringing him closer. I growled at him, and then dropped him on the ground.

"Just for threatening my family, you're not going to get another hit tonight." I said. I stepped over him and walked out onto the back porch. My maw was fading back to normal and my eyes extinguished. I searched the area for danger. Anna came up next to me as well as Tremor on the other side.

"I'm sorry I had to stop Alex, but I can't stand people hurting my family for things they themselves didn't do." I said. Anna and Tremor turned to me.

"No need to explain. I would have done the same thing if the situation were reversed." Said Tremor. I smiled a little.

"So, you're an angel?" He asked, trying to make conversation. I chuckled. Nodding at him, I also added:

"The Angel of Death." I said. Anna burst out laughing. Tremor and I didn't see what was so funny.

"If you're the Angel of Death that means you have a licence to kill. You were legally allowed to kill Mum and Dad." Tremor burst out laughing as Anna explained it.

"And just so you know, I know about your killing mum for the fun of it. Don't worry, she was our step mum whom I hated. She wouldn't have us calling her by her real name. She'd only have us call her mum. So thanks for killing her, the bitch." Said Anna again. It was my turn to burst out laughing now. I never thought anyone would thank me for killing their mother.

"If you guys are going to stay with me, you'd better learn to use magic." I said. Both Tremor and Anna perked up after I had said that.

"Really? You're going to teach us magic? What kind?" She asked. I chuckled at her. I was amassed at how knew there were different kinds of magic.

"Charter magic is the easiest to learn. I need to teach it to Spyro and Cynder so they can put their human forms on by themselves." We all started laughing. Then I heard a scream from Spyro and Cynder's room.

"Mar!" Cried Cynder. I ran into the room at lightning speed. Alex was there with a knife in his hand. He was going to kill Cynder. I ran next to him and rammed him into the wall. The knife fell into my back. I groaned, but didn't budge from my position.

"Let me go! This is my revenge. An eye for an eye. A parent for a sister!" He shouted. I couldn't take his words any more. I yelled at the top of my voice and pushed him through the wall and onto the cold hard ground outside.

"I'm Sorry Tremor, but I have to kill him. He's not going to stop trying until they're both dead." I said trying to get their approval. They both looked at each other and then back to me. They both nodded and I ran out to finish him.

"You're a fool Alex! You would have lost more than your life if you'd have killed Cynder." I said trying to unnerve him.

"Yes, but their blood would have been on your hands, Mar." I stopped. He'd made a valid point.

"It's your fault. It's all your fault. How do you think Bruce and Anna are going to react after they find out you killed me?" He asked. I walked up to him and picked him up with one hand and held him there.

"First of all: I have their permission to kill you. And second of all: You should put your blame where it belongs." I said.

"What? You're the one to blame. Who else is out there to blame?" He asked. I knew my answer straight away.

"You should blame the demons. They made me what I am. Their instincts have manifested into my being. I couldn't stop myself from killing your parents. Besides. I'm allowed to kill. I'm the Angel of Death. I don't even need your brother and sister's permission. But I have it. And against my better judgement, I'm going to give you one more chance. Place your blame on the demons where it belongs." I said.

Alex took in the information about the demons being the ones to blame.

"Your theory is understandable. Demons manifested instincts have been placed into your being. That would temporarily take control of your senses. I understand. The demons are the ones to blame. Thank you for clearing that up. I'm sorry." He said. I dropped him on the ground.

"It's not me you need to apologise to. It's them." I said pointing to Spyro and Cynder.

Cynder jumped down from the hole in the wall and stood in front of Alex.

"I'm sorry Cynder. I wasn't thinking straight. I—" Cynder raised her paw and placed it on his mouth.

"Did Mar tell you all how he got that scar?" She asked all three of the Baxter's. They nodded.

"Mar is an honourable man. He had an episode after killing Beo-dur two days ago. I was in the firing range of that episode. Mar managed to compose himself later that day. I ignored him for hours, but he wouldn't give up. He asked me to hit him. He said he couldn't live with himself after doing what he did to me, unless I hit him. So I did.

Even After I hit him, he stayed true to his word. He didn't retaliate, He didn't growl at me, he didn't do anything. He just stood up and went to inspect himself in the mirror which he'd broken earlier. He came back out and pretended I hadn't hit him. He then asked me if I wanted an explanation as to why he treated me the way he did. I accepted his offer and he told me everything. I've learned through the years I've known Mar, that I can trust him with anything. He wont let me down. And that goes for you three as well." Said Cynder.

After that little speech of Cynder's, Anna was crying and Bruce was sitting next to Cynder trying to get a better spot for hearing. Alex was staring at me with admiration. Spyro was smiling at his mate with admiration as well. Cynder was smiling at me and I was staring at the sky.

* * *

Chapter 17: Mirror

"Everyone get inside." I said as I stared at the sky. Everyone jumped when I spoke suddenly.

"GO…NOW!" I shouted. I leaped into the air and shot an energy wave at the sky. The wave bounced off of something and hit me in the chest. I went falling to the ground.

As I hit the ground, I gasped for air.

"MAR!" Cried Cynder. She ran towards me and I stopped her just in time. A thin mirror shot straight through my chest diagonally. It was as thin as one of those sheets of glass that went on the test slides in science labs. The Mirror had sliced through flesh, bone and rock. It had impaled me. I was in too much pain to say anything. The mirror then slid easily out of my body leaving it a bloody mess.

Cynder screamed. She lunged for the mirror but it just slid away. Spyro ran in with Cynder and the mirror shot right in between them. Spyro and Cynder both charged up their convexity powers, eliminating the Charter marks on their bodies. For the first time, the Baxter's saw Spyro and Cynder as they truly were. Not brother and sister, but mates.

Cynder saw the mirror and fired a beam of convexity at it. The mirror retaliated and two beams were fighting against each other. Cynder broke off her attack. So did the mirror. Spyro then shot his own beam at the mirror, the mirror doing the same. Once again, there were two beams fighting each other. Spyro broke off.

"How is this Possible?" He asked out loud. What happened next, no one would have guessed. The mirror spoke.

"I'm a mirror. I reflect your actions. You charge at me, you charge at yourself. I'm a gate to the mirror world baby." It said. Spyro and Cynder stared at the mirror in shock.

"How can we destroy ourselves?" asked Spyro and Cynder. The mirror was seemingly impenetrable. But I knew it's weakness. If only Spyro and Cynder would turn it around. It had no mirror in the back. It was vulnerable from behind. But I couldn't speak. If I moved, the mirror would certainly notice it.

"Copycat." Said Cynder. Spyro laughed at that. The mirror spoke again, sounding very offended.

"I am not. How can I be a copycat?" Cynder raised her brow. She couldn't believe the question.

"Are you serious? If we move, you do too. The exact same way. That's copying." The mirror started wobbling. It obviously didn't like being called a copycat.

Spyro jumped behind the mirror while it was distracted. The mirror didn't see this action, so it couldn't retaliate. Spyro fired a beam of convexity at it's back.

"Ow. Hey that smarts!" Said the mirror. Cynder shot another beam at the mirror. It hit it square in the back.

"Hey, that's cheating." Said the mirror. Cynder shrugged. The mirror was attacked by another convexity beam.

"Well copying is just another form of cheating too." Said Spyro. The mirror was getting smarter. It jumped out of the way of Cynder's next shot and landed in my wound. I cried out in pain.

"Oh you're still alive are you?" It said. I stared at it with pure hatred. It didn't see my hand go up behind it.

"Yeah, and I have two words for you." I said.

"Oh yeah? And what might they be?" It asked.

"FINAL FLASH!" I yelled. With one hand, Vegeta's strongest attack: the Final Flash attack, went bursting into the sky; taking the mirror with it. Even the bit of mirror that was embedded in my body was disintegrated by the force of my attack. It hurt, but not as much as afterward when I had to sit up.

"Mar, are you okay?" Asked Cynder, tears running down her eyes. Spyro ran over as well. They both wanted to see how I was. The others were staring at me with awe written all over their faces.

"Well, aside from being Impaled, I think I'm fine. Cynder jumped into the air and landed on me with a big Thunk. Spyro did the same and they were both hugging me and kissing me.

"Guys…Choking…Not breathing." I said. They both released me instantly, their tails wagging side to side like a dogs, except slower.

"Hey Mar, did you take the mirror's power?" asked Spyro. I shrugged. My chest was healed by now so I stood up as if nothing was wrong with me. O lifted my tank top to find a nice little scar on my chest where the Mirror had impaled me. Spyro looked at my back and found a parallel scar there.

"Let's test my new ability." I said. Spyro and Cynder stood back and fired a combined convexity wave. The wave hit me and was absorbed. The wave blasted out of my hands and went flying into space.

"Cool." Said Spyro and Cynder together. I walked over to the both of them and picked them up and put them on my shoulders. Cynder curled around my neck and turned herself into a living Stole while Spyro sat back against my tail.

Anna ran to me and squeezed me. She was so glad I was alright. I just kept thinking: _Oh no. Not another Amber._ I hugged her back and released her so she could walk on her own. As I walked past the entrance, I uttered a word that fixed the hole in the wall.

I didn't speak the rest of the night. I just went to the back porch and grabbed the ledge of the roof and back-flipped onto it. Then I found a nice comfortable spot to rest and slowly closed my eyes.

* * *

Chapter 18: Deathmancer

I woke up to find Tremor and Anna standing on the roof, offering me their hands.

"Apprentices Anna and Tremor, reporting for training sir." Said Anna cheekily. Tremor decided to go with a pirate theme.

"Arghhhh. We be ready to set sail cap'n." He said, trying not to laugh. I just smiled at him as they helped me up.

"Well ahoy matey. You can just swab my deck." I said. Then I looked at the clothes they were wearing. They looked like western cowboys without hats. They were wearing square fabrics with holes in the middle for their heads. They were being worn diagonally, so they could move their arms more freely.

"Okay. First lesson, this is magic training, not western training." I said as I flicked off their rags. As soon as they were off. I saw what they were wearing under that. I almost wished they had their rags back on. Bloody cowboy boots and jeans with a chequered shirt tucked into the jeans.

"What is this, bloody Clint Eastwood day? Honestly guys your bath towels would serve better purpose than these." I said trying to place their rags on again.

"Hold on. I'll be back with proper clothes soon. Just stay here, and for god's sake, don't change into anything else." I jumped over to a little shop in a town called Battleon. I bought two Pyromancer's robes from the town mage and jumped back.

"Here, put these on and stop embarrassing yourselves." I said. The two of them stared at the robes. They'd never seen anything like them before.

"Where'd you get them?" Asked Anna. I sighed and answered her question.

"Battleon, now put it on, quickly." I said. Then Tremor asked the dumbest of question I'd ever heard.

"Does this come in green?" He asked. I stared at him for a good long minute. He nearly shat himself when I told him to put it on again.

"It's a Pyromancer's robe. They only come in red. Unless you'd like a Gravelmancer's robe instead?" I offered. He nodded and threw the Pyromancer's robe back to me. I jumped back to Battleon, and got a Gravelmancer's robe for Tremor. As I was about to jump back, I noticed a nice looking black robe with a hood. I asked the caretaker what kind of robe it was. He said he didn't know.

"No one's ever worn it and survived. If you want it, you'll have to try it on first." He said. I was intrigued. I nodded and placed the Gravelmancer's robe on the bench. The caretaker took the robe from the hanger and gave it to me. I suddenly noticed that people were gathering around the shop to watch me try it on. What I wanted to know was how they knew I was going to do so?

I threw the robe around me and placed my arms through the sleeves. I then wrapped the coat around my body and tied it together. I felt a stabbing pain in my chest. I fell to the ground. Everyone moaned at the robe. The caretaker was about to remove the robe when I stood up.

"Jesus Christ!" he shouted. Everyone turned around to see me stand up. I was changed. My skin was a light purple. The robe had flaps that were sticking up and outward. Purple lightning skittled around my body. The robe had adapted to me.

Chunks of my hair was sticking up at the back. I decided to buy a pair of black gloves to go with my new robe. I noticed two chains hanging from the sides of the robe. There were two weights at the ends of the chains. I examined them and purple lightning flew around my hand.

"It's the Deathmancer's robe." I said suddenly. I remembered Nuke telling me about it. It was lost to the angel over a millennia ago.

"How much?" I asked frightening everyone in the area. I was staring at the weight for so long. I was like a statue.

"I can't put a price on a robe that was destined for you." said the caretaker. I stared at him.

"Thank you very much. I will return to help you one day. Just call for me and I will answer. My name is Mar." And with that, I jumped back to Anna and Tremor. The Gravelmancer's robe held safely in my arms.

"Christ, Mar. What happened to you?" Asked Tremor as I tossed him his robe. Spyro and Cynder flew up to the roof to see what was going on. Mace even took an interest in this.

"Deathmancer's robe." I said, plainly. My voice was crackly due to my dark form. I smiled sweetly at them. This unnerved them even more. I chuckled. It had a strange echo to it, almost like I was chuckling in an empty Basketball court.

"Don't worry; it's just a manifestation from the robe. I'll explain everything later." I said trying to calm them down. It didn't seem to work. I tried smiling but my Maw appeared. Eventually I just walked up to them and handed them the robes. They just stood there. I was getting worried.

It was five minutes and no one was saying anything. I decided to have a little fun. I walked up to Anna and stood next to her facing the same direction. She didn't move. She was frozen solid. I moved closer to her ear. My face inches away from hers.

"Boo!" I whispered. Anna jumped on the spot and started running. Everyone turned their heads and watched as she ran. I started chuckling.

"Anna, come back. I'm not going to hurt you!" I shouted. She didn't turn around. There were demons out there far more dangerous than what I've faced recently. She'd be a goner.

"Aw crap." I said, running after her.

"Anna… Anna? Anna where are you?" I called. There was no answer. Where ever she was, she was either out of hearing range, too scared to answer or captured by something.

"Anna, listen to me. There are things more dangerous than me out here. You're better off with me than by yourself." I called.

"That remains to be seen." said a familiar voice. I turned around to see an angel standing on a rock.

"Hello Nuke. How are you today?" I asked being polite. I liked Nuke. He was a kind and caring guy.

"Not too good, Mar. Sam's here with me. She's got some bad news. She wanted me to tell you but I won the straw game. Sam, come here. I'm not telling him, you must." He said. I faced the direction Nuke was. I saw Sam appear from behind a tree next to Nuke. She didn't look very healthy herself. She looked as if she had been crying.

"Hi…Mar. I'm glad to see you again. But Nuke is right; I do have…some bad news. I don't know how to say this, but…" Sam was getting tears in her eyes. I could tell it was about Amber. Sam wouldn't act this way if it was anyone else. Over the years, Sam and Amber were beginning to be great "girlfriends" at they called each other.

"It's Amber isn't it? What's wrong? Is she okay? Is she…?" I couldn't bring myself to say the D-word. Unfortunately, Sam said it for me.

"She's dead, Mar. She was hunting one of the greater demons and got caught. Her wings were ripped to shreds and she came back to us with her own sword pierced through her heart. The same sword you gave to her on her last birthday. They even branded her with your seal. Whether it was before or after they killed her, we don't know."

I listened, and listened. I couldn't believe Amber was dead. I could feel the anger building up in me. I let out an explosion of dark energy on the forest, yelling at the top of my voice. When I'd finished, there was Anna standing next to a fallen tree. The entire area was covered in fallen trees.

I turned away from Anna and looked at Sam. She was walking towards me, tears in her eyes. She needed to be with me for the time being. Nuke was sitting on a broken rock with his head in his hands. He looked up at me and Sam. She was hugging me now, but I was looking at Nuke.

"I don't suppose there was anything you could have done to prevent her death?" I asked. Nuke shook his head.

"No. She was too far in enemy territory. I feel fatally ill whenever I go in there." He answered. I nodded.

"I'm afraid I've got more bad news. Now that you're part demon, you're unable to come back to Heaven. They don't allow demons in Heaven. So you're stuck out here. You'll still be able to travel between Dimensions, but you'd have to create the portals yourself. That shouldn't be difficult for you should it?" He asked concerned. He still wanted me to have some freedom. I nodded.

"If Dusk asks about me, tell him I'm at the dragon realm. That's where I'm going after Spyro and Cynder's honeymoon." I said to Sam. She looked at me. She didn't plan on leaving her older brother to brood alone for all eternity.

"No. I'm staying with you." She said. But I shook my head. If she stayed, she wouldn't be allowed back to Heaven either. Hanging around Demons is forbidden; Even part demons who used to be your brother or sister. She stared at me.

"Sam, you can't leave Nuke alone. You're all he's got now, unless he's got someone else while I've been away. Nuke nodded.

"Actually, Blazer Burns is the new guy here. I knew that you were becoming a demon. I can sense these things. So I got Blazer to replace you. His sister is also interested in being the Angel of Death as well." I nodded at him. It sounded like Blazer was to be my replacement. I didn't mind not going back to Heaven, but Amber's death was unforgettable. I was trying as hard as I could to keep it together.

"Tell them to come visit us every now and then. We'd like some updates on our father and brother. Goodbye for now Nuke." I said. Nuke nodded, and shook my hand.

"Make sure you take care of your sister now. She's your responsibility." He said. I nodded again. Nuke gave me a hug and bade Sam goodbye as well. And with a wave goodbye, he was gone.

* * *

Chapter 19: Changes

I fell on my knees, tears streaming down my face. She was gone. Amber was gone.

"Mar, I'm so sorry. I didn't want to be the one to tell you but—" I cut her off. I was curious about something.

"Why? Why didn't you want to tell me? Why you of all people? What is it about me that people find so scary, they'd draw straws to see who would give me bad news? Am I feared that much? Or is it something else. If it's something else then I don't want to hear about it. I've got enough on my plate already." I said, trying to let out all my frustration. It didn't work. Purple lightning was shooting into the ground, creating small burnt craters.

"Maybe we should tell the others. Get it off your chest?" suggested Sam. I shook my head.

"No. If I told Spyro or Cynder, They'd want to cancel the honeymoon for me. I promised them that nothing would get in the way of them enjoying themselves. Not even me." I said. I felt like exploding, literally. I couldn't take the pain.

"I don't want that to happen. I don't want to ruin their plans just because of me." I said. Anna walked up to me and tried to comfort me.

"I won't say anything unless you want me to, Mar." She said. I turned to her. She wasn't sure about my appearance, but she still cared for me. I hugged her.

"Thank you Anna. If Spyro and Cynder found out, they'd feel guilty for accepting my offer to take them here. They'd probably say something like: 'If we hadn't accepted your offer, you could've saved Amber.' Or something along those lines." Anna stared at me.

"But they'd probably be right. If you weren't here, you'd be there with her. You could have changed the outcome." She said. I looked at her. She instantly realised that she was doing more harm than good.

"Sorry." She said. I just patted her shoulder and stood up.

"Anna, this is Samantha, my sister. Sam, this is Anna. She's one of the group of people being attacked by demons. I've managed to kill five of them but—" As I was explaining our dilemma, we heard a deep roar nearby.

"What was that?" asked Sam. She'd never seen a demon before. So this was new to her.

"It sounded like a dinosaur. It sounds bigger than anything we've seen yet." said Anna. I could hear the footsteps of what did seem like a dinosaur's. I saw a puddle of water near the rock Nuke had been sitting on. I stared at it. When the next step came, I saw a small impact tremor in the water.

"We've gotta go, now!" I called running back towards the cottage. I grabbed Anna's hand and dragged her with me. Sam was flying just above me. After about ten seconds Anna fell on the ground. I doubled back and picked her up, carrying her the rest of the way. I heard a snarl from directly behind me. As my wings grew from my back, I jumped up in the air and started flapping. Anna was screaming, thinking that the demon had gotten both of us. I tried to calm her, nearly dropping her in the process.

"Relax, it's me. We're flying. Like Sam over there, see?" I said pointing towards Sam.

Anna looked in the direction I was pointing in and saw Sam flying, her wings extended, flapping with all her might. As I banked closer to her, I saw the creature that was chasing us. Anna was not far wrong. The demon was like a Dinosaur. To be more precise, A T-rex. Only this demon had four eyes and long arms; Longer than its legs. I also noticed that its tail was clubbed and had scales instead of a rough hide like the rest of its body.

"Shit. Bank!" I shouted as the demon jumped into the air. Sam rolled to the right while I rolled to the left. The demon snapped at the spot where the three of us were, not half a second ago. As the demon fell, it sprouted wings along its back. I realised what it was instantly.

"Aw crap. We've got a changeling!" I called over to Sam as she was banking hard in order to avoid getting eaten.

"Brilliant. Just the kind of first encounter I need!" She said sarcastically. I chuckled. I needed to deal with this creature quickly.

"Here, catch." I yelled as I threw Anna over to Sam. She caught her easily enough; Though Anna was as stiff as a board, making it easier for Sam to catch her.

I flew down to the changeling and shot an energy blast at it. The changeling; living up to its name, changed form. It changed into a similar version of me. The wings were white dragon wings, and his hair was black. The eyes were a glowing red, and his hands had very sharp claws. It didn't however mimic my clothing. It was clothed in scales instead of clothes.

There was a screeching noise coming from the changeling. It fired the same energy blast as my previous one. I retaliated by firing one of my own. However, I underestimated the strength of his attack. It absorbed my own and went straight on to me. The blast hit me in the chest and sent me flying.

I hit something in the air. I looked up to see the changeling smiling down at me. He threw me back in the direction I came from and kicked me to the ground after jumping back to its previous position. It grabbed my head as I was falling and shoved me in the ground. I chocked out blood as I felt the pain rise up. The changeling cackled and threw me into a tree. I was impaled by multiple branches. I felt the branches snap off as the changeling pulled me by the leg and swung me into the ground. I was paralysed. I tried to study the changeling's movements. But it changed styles every minute. I had to find a way to destroy it. I couldn't let it hurt Spyro or Cynder. Or the others. I thought of them as the changeling walked up to me casually.

I had to think. _What do Changelings focus on? They need to be able to see things in order to counter it. But if they couldn't see what the next move was, how could they see it?_ That was it. Just like in the antique shop, I would be difficult to read.

As I thought about this the changeling swung me into another tree, impaling me even more. But it didn't matter. I concentrated on creating a dark cloud around my body. I opened my eyes. Nothing. Nothing except the changeling's fist coming at me. I couldn't do anything. I was paralysed and I couldn't form a dark cloud. The changeling punched me square in the face. Then again in the stomach. Then it played around with the branches sticking out of me. It decided to use them for a scratching post.

The movement of the branches was agony to my body. The changeling stopped scratching and surprisingly; gently pulled the branches from my body. Then he carried me into the air. He searched for the cottage I was currently occupying and threw me at it.

I saw the cottage. I was closing in, and fast too. I would be there in a matter of seconds. I had to think of a way to stop myself. But how? I was paralysed. I didn't have enough time to think beyond that. The roof of the cottage came in contact with my head. I landed flat on the ground. Under the floor of the cottage. The last thing I saw was Spyro, Cynder, Sam and Anna staring at me with tears running down their cheeks.

I woke to screams of agony. I could hear Cynder screaming to be let go. I sat up instantly, ignoring the pain. I burst through the floor and saw the changeling trying to choke Cynder. I saw Spyro, Sam and the others unconscious on the ground.

"You! You're in trouble!" I said. The distortion in my voice scared the changeling, but not enough to let Cynder go. In fact the changeling gripped her tighter, smiling. I growled. I Bent down and shook, the whole place shaking along with me.

"Arghhhh…NOW DIE! There was an echo in the atmosphere. The power of my anger increased the intentions of my words. I shot forward. The changeling took a swing at me but I went right through him, disappearing into thin air. A moving afterimage. I shouted an attack at the changeling. The changeling tried to dodge, but it didn't see me shoot from right in front of it until it was too late.

I blasted off the arm that held Cynder in its grip. Now that that was over with. I waited for the Changeling to attack. It did. The changeling fired a 'final flash' at me. I let the blast hit me. Using the power of the mirror I redirected the blast back to the changeling, surprising it. I was going to change the style to something more effective, but decided to go for crafty.

The changeling fired a simple energy ball at me I caught the ball in my left hand, threw it behind me and swung my other arm around, throwing a 'Blaster shell' at the changeling. The changeling yelped at the sudden surprise. I jumped behind the changeling and clothes lined it. As it was flying away, I chased after it. As it repositioned itself, I grabbed it by the shoulders and threw it into the air, kicking it back in the other direction. I caught it with my hand and drove it into the ground. I remembered using this move against the were-wolf.

I cackled at the disfigured face of the changeling. Now it was paralysed like I was. But like me, it would heal. So I couldn't return the favour of sparing it. Though that might have been the reason why it spared me in the first place. Just in case. With one blast I sent the changeling packing. I charged up an 'Omega blaster' and fired. The ball got its target but the changeling was pushing back. I flew into the air and fired multiple shots at the ball. By the time the battle was finished, the cottage was completely destroyed.

I shouted out two words and the cottage was as good as new. Just as well too because the keeper of the farmland, Di was walking up to see how we were going.

"So Mar how is everything?" asked Di. I smiled at her. Di was a nice person. She loved the animals, and the children that came here to help her feed them. Though some of the children could have been considered animals themselves.

"Everything's fine. Spyro and Cynder had some friends over for the night. They're all asleep in their room. Di looked at me confused.

"Boys and girls?" She asked. I nodded. I'd forgotten that humans were very gender aware. That could be one of the reasons every species was greater than them.

"Yeah, well they had a party last night. I was out for the time being. When I came back, you wouldn't have believed the mess. I managed to clean it all up, with a bit of help from Anna. She's one of the girls staying with us. She's a sweet girl." I said trying to change the subject. Di smiled warmly at me.

"And how's your girlfriend going? Amber wasn't it? Have you spoken to her lately?" Asked Di. I frowned.

"Promise you won't tell Spyro or Cynder?" I asked. I needed to keep this a secret. I could tell Di, because she was trust worthy. She nodded and raised her hand in the scout's honour pledge. I smiled at her for doing that. These were dark times for me.

"Amber died a few days ago. I just found out from Sam, my sister. I don't want Spyro and Cynder to know because they'll feel responsible. As you know, I'm a bounty hunter. Amber was a police officer. They said that she was kidnapped by criminals and raped. They found her the next day sitting at her desk. Dead." I said finishing the sentence with a little struggle. I felt a tear go down my face. But I didn't bother to wipe it.

Di sat there not knowing how to comfort me. She felt pretty useless. She even admitted this after a few seconds of awkward silence.

"No. No you're not useless. I've been dying to get that out to _someone_. And you've provided that relief for me. Thank you Di." I said, smiling at her. She smiled back at me.

"Well I'm glad I was of some use. Now you let me know if you need anything, will you?" She asked. I nodded, trying to keep the smile going. Di stood up and hugged me before leaving the cottage.

I had no Idea that Cynder was listening to the conversation. Not until I saw her eyes glowing from the cracked door. She gasped before heading back to bed. I walked into the room, not turning on the light switch. No need. I could see everything going on in that room. I saw Cynder's tail twitch as I came closer. I knelt down next to her. Her back turned to me. I leaned in and kissed her cheek.

"I'm sorry." I whispered. Then I left the room and headed for my own bed. I saw Sam on the other side. I smiled at her. I got in and fell to sleep instantly.

* * *

Chapter 20: Seals

I woke up and put on my khaki pants and black tank top. I still had puncture wounds, but they didn't hurt. They were slowly healing. They'd be finished by lunch. I went into the kitchen and grabbed the egg carton from the fridge and some grated cheese and bacon. I'd decided to make the guys some sort of omelette with cheese and bacon mixed in with the egg. I grabbed the milk and started mixing it with the eggs.

Then I placed the cheese and bacon bits into the bowl and poured some of it in to the frying pan. The pan sizzled as the mixture was cooking. Cynder came out of the kitchen first. Followed closely by Spyro. Spyro was looking at me with a strange stare. All through breakfast, he wouldn't take his gaze off of me. Neither would Cynder. I was washing the dishes. Spyro and Cynder had finished their meals and had sat at the bench to watch me clean. I got so sick of it I dropped the dished in the sink and made a clanging sound, scaring them.

"Alright, what?" I asked, getting pissed off by the silence. I stared at them giving them cold hard looks. Cynder shied away, but Spyro stood his ground. He didn't say anything. He just stood there. It was beginning to scare me.

"Well?" I urged. I was getting really mad at their blaming stares. Purple lightning started to project from my body. This finally made Spyro snap. He shot through the window behind me and flew away. Cynder didn't follow suit but simply sat on the bench next to me and continued to watch me do the dishes.

"I don't suppose you could tell me what that was about?" I asked Cynder with a calmer tone. She sighed.

"He's mad at you for not telling us what happened. He wants to leave now so you can go see Amber before they get rid of her body." She said. I sighed.

"I'd like nothing more than to go and see her before the destruction of her body has begun. But I can't. Two reasons. One: I promised I'd never let anything get in the way of your honeymoon. Two: I've been exiled from Heaven due to the demonic cells in my body. Only a fully fledged Angel can enter Heaven. And since I'm not one anymore. I don't belong. I can't go there." I said. Cynder had tears in her eyes afterwards.

Spyro came back and saw Cynder's tears and assumed the worst. He took a swing at me, but I grabbed his tail and explained to him what really went on. Afterwards, I let go of his tail and he stalked off to his room.

"I'm sorry about him. He can be rather HEARTLESS sometimes." Said Cynder, yelling out the 'heartless' so Spyro could hear. He just gave Cynder a cold stare. Cynder met it head on. I could see there would be a fight coming. And I was right. Pretty soon, there was verbal abuse and elemental powers going all over the place. I'd finally snapped.

"HEY!" I bellowed from the top of my voice. Spyro and Cynder were clawing at each other when I'd yelled out, scaring the both of them. I walked up to them and broke them up.

"If you're going to act like children, then I'm going to treat you like children." I said. I threw Spyro in his room and Cynder in mine.

"Now stay in there until the both of you are ready to apologise to each other. I'll not have anything ruin your honeymoon. Not even me, or yourselves." I heard Spyro cursing me silently in his room. Cynder however, started crying. I just went outside and created a giant crater in the centre of the backyard. Spyro and Cynder both exited their rooms to see what the noise was. When they saw the crater. They were amazed. Then they saw me in the centre of it.

Spyro was the first to notice me crying. I was too tired. I couldn't take much more of this agony. Spyro and Cynder both walked up to me. I didn't feel like talking. But I felt that I must.

"Do you know why I survive these fights? Do you know why I carry on? Even after I found out that the love of my life had died days ago? Do you know why?" I asked. It was a simple question that required a complicated answer.

"It's because of you two that I fight on. I fight so that I can live to see you happy. To see you alive and well. If that's taken away from me…I…I don't know what will be worth fighting for anymore." I said. I could see Spyro hanging his head out of the corner of my eye.

Cynder was trying to stop more tears coming to her eyes. Out of the stories I'd heard of Cynder. How she was evil, that she was always brave, when fighting with Spyro. It was not like that these days. Peaceful years with Spyro and me had softened her heart. She was easily upset now. So I had to try to prevent that. I lay back. Spyro and Cynder walked up next to me.

"I was going to give you two these when we got back to Warfang. But I think you need them now more than ever." I said, pulling out two of my seals. One was purple and the other was a dark violet, to match their scales. I handed them to the dragons. They stood there still as statues. They didn't think I'd ever give them my seal after the way they behaved.

"Take them." I said urging them on. They stared back and forth at me and the seals. After a minute, I got sick of waiting. I sat up and placed Spyro's seal around his neck. The seal itself hung above his breast scales, shining purple in the sunlight. Cynder took hers and tried to place it around her neck but got tangled. I fixed it up for her and she smiled at me.

"Thank you." She said cheerily and then walked off without a word.

Spyro and I stared at her. She'd entered the cottage and shut the door behind her.

"Okay. That was kind of weird." said Spyro. I was nodding when Spyro piped up.

"Hey Mar. I've noticed that you've been hanging around Cynder more than me. Why is that?" He asked. The question completely threw me off guard. But I knew the answer.

"Because she comes to me when she has problems. You don't. You try to figure them out by yourself. And that is if you have a problem. Cynder comes to me for help. You just bugger off somewhere, and come back when your problem's solved." I said. Spyro nodded. He understood what I had said and was strangely relaxed now.

"Okay. I thought you two were doing something behind my back is all." He said. I just had to thunk him on the back of the head. _As if. Me and Cynder. I'll kill him._

"Have you noticed that Cynder has been acting rather strange lately?" I asked. Spyro nodded slowly.

"Yeah. Her attitude changed dramatically last night. She tossed and turned in her sleep, she shouted at me in her sleep, and then tried to kiss me, and hit me. Then she started crying. I didn't get much sleep. I told her that I was cranky at you for not telling us about Amber. But I was really cranky at her. You understand how I had to act right?" He asked. I chuckled and nodded slightly.

"But that still doesn't explain why she's acting like a—" I cut myself off._ Could it really be? Could Cynder really be—_Spyro coughed, distracting me from my thoughts.

"Like a what?" He asked. I was too ashamed to ask whether Spyro and Cynder had had a night without sleeping. But it would answer my theory.

"Spyro, have you and Cynder…Um…You know?" I asked. Spyro blushed a little. It was difficult to see him blush due to the colour of his scales, but it was there. He nodded slowly. My theory was that much closer to becoming fact.

"Spyro. I think the way Cynder's acting, she might be pregnant." I said, blushing a little myself. Spyro's eyes nearly fell out of his head.

"Are you serious? I could be having a little boy or girl?" He asked excitedly. I shrugged at him.

"Maybe both. But this is only a theory, mind you. We'd have to wait and see if she either comes forward with this or if she gains a little weight." I said trying not to laugh. It didn't work. I burst out laughing and fell back into the crater. I couldn't help laughing. It was so hard to imagine Cynder with some weight issues. Spyro just smiled at me, trying not to laugh as well. Cynder came outside to see what was so funny.

"Hey, what's wrong?" She called from the porch. I sat up still laughing. I tried to form words but I couldn't. Luckily, Spyro managed to form them for me.

"We were just…Imagining…The next demon…To be fatter than…The last!" He said trying to breathe with every few words. That was almost as funny as Cynder's possible weight gain. I fell back again, dying.

"Oh god, someone get a tranquiliser before I die of laughter. HA HA HAH!" I couldn't stop laughing.

It took me a few minutes before I stopped laughing. It took Spyro even longer. Cynder didn't see what was so funny. I noticed that she was wearing headphones. She'd placed them on her head, using her horns as leverage so they didn't fall off.

"What're you listening to Cynder?" I asked curiously. She shrugged. She took the headphones off and handed them to me. I listened with one ear.

"It's slice of heaven. By Dave Dobbyn." I said. He's an old singer from New Zealand. He sung the songs in 'The Footrot Flats' movie. I think I've got it if you want to see it. It's about a dog that goes on an adventure to save another dog. The subheading is 'the dog's tail'. It's pretty good." I said. Cynder just shook her head and went back inside.

"Okay. First she's all cheery, and then she's acting like a Goth. What's going on?" Spyro asked. I explained to him that pregnancies often cause hormonal changes. Such as: Rapid changes of attitude and consuming larger amounts of food than usual.

"And there'll also be aches and pains as she progresses through the stages. She'll feel kicking from the child. Although the kicking part might not happen. Because dragons lay eggs don't they?" I asked Spyro nodded and urged me to go on.

"Cynder may not get the kicking pains. But she may get some other kind of pain. I'm not too sure. Dragon anatomy isn't my forte. And remember. We're still not entirely sure that she's pregnant." I said. I didn't mean to get his hopes down but we were probably fretting over nothing. Spyro nodded. He did look a little down, but I knew how to cheer him up.

"Come on. Let's go hunting. I bet you've missed our little hunting sessions?" I said Spyro smiled as he lifted his head.

"I'm gonna catch more than you Mar!" He said as he ran for the forest. I watched him go and I stood up and followed suite.

"Hey. That's cheating. We're supposed to start at the same time." I called. He just turned his head and gave me a raspberry. I smiled as he turned his head back around and hit a tree square in the face. I walked up to him casually and burst out laughing as I saw what had happened. The tree was very thin and Spyro's head was sticking through the other side while the rest of him was trying to get free.

"You idiot. I can't believe you went through a tree. Ha ha hah!" I said. Spyro suddenly went limp. I stopped laughing and cautiously walked up to him.

"Spyro?" I called. I was getting really scared now. I was about to place my hand on his neck when he suddenly shot through the tree and sped off after a fox that had come to see what I was laughing about. I fell back and shouted at him.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack you ass!" I yelled at him. Then I got up and chased after him.

I found a fox and swallowed it whole. That was my breakfast solved. Now I just had to hunt. I listened for any footsteps. I closed my eyes to increase my hearing and concentration. I heard a twig snap behind me. I pounced.

* * *

Chapter 21: Wendigo near Bendigo

Spyro was crying when I saw him. My maw was half way over his head. I noticed him at the last second. I removed my maw from his horned head.

"Spyro, what's wrong?" I asked. He was scared of something. He pointed in the direction of the cottage. I stared at that direction for a good long minute. Then I heard foot steps. Spyro shivered in my arms. He was genuinely afraid. I'd never seen him like this. Ever. Then I heard a cry for help. It was Tremor. I got up but Spyro pulled me back down.

"Don't. It's using Tremor's voice. It's trying to lure us out of the ring that I made. Before I came to you I made a ring around you so it couldn't get us. I've never seen anything like it." He said shaking even harder. I thought for a minute._ If we're safe in here, then what about the others outside the ring? Cynder, Sam, Anna, Tremor and Alex._

"We've gotta get the others. Now!" I said gripping Spyro and running for the cottage. I heard a roar that went right through me. I faltered for a second. Then I heard footsteps and I ran faster. I sprouted my wings and flew even faster than I could run. I made it to the cottage in seconds. I placed a ring around the cottage and ran inside.

Spyro was clawing at my shoulders and I was breathing heavily. Tremor, Alex and Anna were back from feeding the animals and were watching us with fear in their eyes.

"Stay away from the windows. Don't listen to anything out there. Okay?" I asked, reinforcing my question. Everyone nodded and started to speak. I told them to quiet down and hide.

"Where's Sam?" I asked Anna pointed to my room. She still hadn't woken up. Probably just as well. We all head a scream and a slashing sound as the creature tried to get our help. But I recognised the voice. It was Amber's voice. I growled at the creature. It heard the growl, even from that distance. The screaming stopped, and so did the scratching. I wanted to know how it knew my fiancé's voice. _Was it there when she was captured?_ I had to know.

"Stay…Here." I growled. Then I walked outside. I stood at the edge of the circle. Trying to see if this creature would fall for my trap.

"Help! Someone help!" called the creature. I growled some more. It kept on calling.

"Please help! Please Arghhhh!" cried the voice. But I wasn't fooled. I saw the neighbours on their back porch.

"HELP!" the voice screamed. He, whom I presumed to be the children's father, moved before I stopped him.

"No! Don't, it's a trap. Whatever's out there is trying to bait us. It'll trap us and kill us." I said. I'd scared the children over there but the parents were not believing me.

"How do you know that that isn't really a person being attacked?" asked the mother. I frowned at her.

"Because it's using my dead fiancée's voice." I said coldly. The mother lowered her head.

"How do we protect ourselves?" asked the father. I urged them to come over here quickly. They all ran. As soon as they got here, the mother called out to her daughter. The girl stuck her head out the window. She was a teenage girl with dark black hair. She looked like a punk rocker. One without flowers in her hair. The creature finally showed itself. It was a Wendigo. They usually were found in the Northern American areas. They were once human thousands of years ago. But they succumbed to cannibalism and due to that; they gained an increase in speed and strength as well as the intelligence required to hunt.

The Wendigo growled and swung at the girl. She turned in the direction of the growling and saw the arm coming for her. She ducked her head back in the window and shut it. The Wendigo growled at her. The man went after the girl, but I held him back.

"No. It'll definitely kill you. I'll go. What's the girl's name?" I asked. The man stared at me. He didn't want to trust his daughter to a man that he hardly knew.

"Amber." He said. I stared at the cottage that Amber was in.

"Great." I said. I sprouted my wings and flew across the area to the Wendigo; Knocking it down. I heard the two children saying "Wow!" while the parents gasped at the sight of my wings. I entered the cottage, knocking over the door. I'd fix it later.

"Amber?" I called. No answer. She was at least smart enough not to talk to strangers.

The Wendigo jumped me and I fell into the room that Amber was hiding in. The Wendigo jumped on top of me and started eating at my wings.

"Oh, no you don't. I just got these back. I'm not going to lose them again." I shouted. I jumped up and crashed into the roof, pinning the Wendigo there as I fell back down. Amber was standing over me with a baseball bat in her hands.

"Relax the bad one's up there in the roof." I said pointing to where the Wendigo was. I looked up to see that it wasn't there anymore.

"Oh crap. Run." I said. Amber quickly dropped the bat and ran for the door. It probably wasn't a good idea to lose the bat, but she was running. And that was the idea. I stood up and started searching for the Wendigo. Nothing. I walked outside to catch up to Amber and her family.

"Hey Amber, wanna fly?" I asked. I landed next to her as she ran. She stopped and noticed that there was blood dripping from my wing. She pointed this out to me but I shrugged it off, saying it would heal later on anyway.

"Thank you for saving me from that thing. What was it?" She asked. I turned my head back to the cottage.

"That was a Wendigo. They used to be human, but became cannibals later in life due to starvation." I said. Amber followed my gaze.

"So what're you?" She asked. I looked back at her and she tilted her head at my wings.

"I used to be an Angel. Until I killed a demon." I said. Amber looked at me, respect in her eyes.

"You killed one of those?" She asked. I shook my head. I explained to her the troubles I'd been through with the previous demons, leaving out the details of the wounds. As I explained that every demon I killed, I'd gain something from them, we heard a scream from the cottage. The Wendigo jumped from out of the roof.

"Run, head for the castle." I said and then I turned on the Wendigo.

The Wendigo stopped in front of me. It wasn't bothering with Amber, who had stopped to watch the fight right behind me.

"Can you speak?" I asked the Wendigo. It nodded at me. Giving me a smile. I didn't like that.

"Were you there when my Fiancée was killed?" The Wendigo nodded and then shook its head, indicating I was half right.

"I didn't just witness her death; I was the one who killed her." It said with Amber's voice. I snarled at the Wendigo. It just smiled some more.

"She screamed your name as she died. It was…pleasing." It wiped its mouth even though it was clean. I just stood there. Devoid of emotion.

The Wendigo Screamed at me. A challenge. I accepted with a screeching roar of my own. This only provoked the Wendigo. Unlike the other demons I'd faced, this one wasn't so easily scared. The Wendigo charged at me. I stood there waiting for it. I saw the Wendigo take a swing. But I grabbed its arm and broke it instantly. The Wendigo screamed. It tried to pull away, but I still clutched its broken arm. It screamed and screamed, but I didn't let go. I wanted it to feel fear and pain. The same way Amber did before this thing killed her.

I saw the Wendigo pick up a stick and impale me with it. But that was it. I saw it; I didn't feel it. I didn't even notice it. I just squeezed the Wendigo's arm even harder. Spyro and Cynder had come to watch the fight, as well as Sam and the others. The Wendigo wasn't going to let me get away with this though.

"You know the best bit? The best bit was when I bit down slowly on her wings. Savouring every bit." It said. The Wendigo was trying to unnerve me. But it only seceded in getting on my nerves. I squeezed harder and a dark aura filled my body I felt energy rise up in me. I groaned in agony. A crater formed around the area I was standing in. I got a charge out of ripping the Wendigo's arm right off. It screamed in agony.

"Do you know the best bit? The best bit is when I slowly and painfully kill my demons. The Were-wolf I fought won't die for another year yet. I injected a slow but fatal venom into it. He won't be a father for long." I said, chuckling. Now I'd managed to unnerve the Wendigo. It was shaking the ground around it as I walked closer to it. My figure had changed completely since my outburst of energy. My hair was sticking up straight. My clothes were flapping about, even though there was no breeze. My hands were dark claws and my skin was that dark violet colour it turned to whenever I was this angry. My jaw faded, turning into the maw that always freaked out the other demons.

"You're number seven. Three more and I'll become a demon myself. I'll be the strongest." I said. I threw the Wendigo's arm to it. The Wendigo took its arm ad threw it at my face. I caught it with my mouth and bit down. The arm broke into three pieces. Two fell out the sides of my mouth while the other went down my throat. The Wendigo screamed and tried to run away. But I grabbed its leg, ripped the stick from my shoulder and pinned the Wendigo to the ground. It screamed in pain as I bent over it and grabbed its neck. I lifted it up, letting the leg bleed even more. I brought the Wendigo closer to my face.

"You lose!" I said as I opened my maw and bit off its head. The rest of the Wendigo went limp. I threw the rest of it to Spyro and Cynder. They were a little hungry. They liked raw meat. They developed a liking to demon meat as well. I raised my wings in the air and stared at the heavens.

"I did it Amber. I've avenged you." I said out loud. The family next door, whose names I didn't know except for Amber; came over to me.

"Your fiancée's name was Amber as well?" asked Amber. I looked at her and nodded. I lowered my wings and retracted them back into my body. Afterwards I knelt down and collapsed on the ground. I started panting; I could feel my body changing. Everyone heard a growling sound coming from my body. I felt my body growing stronger. My vision changed red I could smell the blood on the Wendigo. I was very tempted to grab it and run off with it. But I couldn't do that to Spyro and Cynder. Instead, I turned and ran straight for the forest. Tuning out the sounds of my friends calling me to come back home.

* * *

Chapter 22: Instincts

It took me weeks to reach my destination. The only problem was: I didn't know where I was. I asked around to find out, but people weren't very talkative. I looked like hell, my clothes were wrecked. I figured that I looked homeless to everyone. I wasn't even allowed in shops. I sat in an alleyway for days, trying to think of a way to get some money. I couldn't go back to my family. I wouldn't go back, not until I found myself again. I didn't know why I was trying to find myself. I already knew who I was; I knew everything I needed to know. But something was missing. The spark. I was missing a spark.

I decided the only way I could get money, was if I joined the Australian army. But they required résumé's. Something I didn't have on me. But I thought it was worth a try. Luckily for me, they decided to test my skills. I showed them what I could do and they were impressed straight away.

I was assigned to a special team; there were seven of us. We were assigned to the most difficult tasks imaginable. Over the weeks, I learned the names of each team mate. There was Slick: He was a special weapons operative who had grown up with weapons. His father had taught him everything about weapons. I learned that his father was a bounty hunter in America.

Neo was a rather acrobatic guy. He was able to move out of the way of any bullet that came within metres of him. He had senses like a cat. This made him a valuable addition to the team.

Goat was a religious man. But he was really good at his job. He could shoot a man from a hundred yards. Using only a nine millimetre hand gun. He was a specialist.

Duke was handy with melee weapons. He used two swords to deflect of slice incoming bullets. He also served as a shield for Destroyer. Destroyer was a heavy weapons specialist. And I mean heavy. Dual Mini-guns and stuff like that. Wielding two mini-guns gave Destroyer great upper body strength, so in case he had to use melee weapons for close range, He'd always beat the enemy in strength.

With every team, there's always a tech specialist. Everyone called him Roach. He could defuse a bomb and deconstruct it within half a minute. And then there was me. Nobody really knew the extent of my abilities, and that was the way I liked it. My main area was rather new to everyone. The government considered calling me a magician. But it wasn't to my liking. So they settled for Reaper. That was my nickname for the team. We were known as Organisation X.

I enjoyed being part of the team, but it wasn't what I was searching for. It didn't give me the spark I needed. Even when I was assigned to me the leader of the team; I still didn't find that spark

"Hey Reaper, we've got a case." Said Duke. Duke and I were particularly good friends. He was the first to treat me like one of their…assorted family. I got up from my work bench and grabbed my belt. I wore a black tank top with woodland military pants. I wore a black men's skirt that went down to my knees and combat buckled boots. I recently got a tattoo on my right shoulder representing my seal. I also got a haircut. Now I have short hair about an inch from my scalp. It sticks up all the time, but I can't complain.

"What's up Duke?" I asked. Duke was reading a message on the computer. He turned to me as the rest of the organisation gathered around him.

"We've lost contact with Headquarters. The last message said that some creature was looking for you Reaper. Referred to you as Mar." said Duke. I swallowed hard. I couldn't believe they'd found me again.

"We can't help. That creature is out to kill me and anyone who's around. It'll kill you guys as well. I know how good you are guys but trust me; these guys are stronger than you. Just one of these guys managed to hurt me badly, and I mean badly. They're bad news." I said, looking at each one of my team mates.

"Reaper, we're professionals, we can take any man that messes with us. They're probably just special ops from North Korea or something. The North Korean's probably placed a bounty on you and have sent someone to whack you or something, it's no big deal." said Destroyer. I turned on him; my skin going dark violet.

"They're not men. They're worse than me." I said, purple lighting flashing around my face, travelling down my body and into the floor. Destroyer faltered but repositioned himself.

Suddenly, we received a transmission from Headquarters. It was a demon with claws and sharp teeth.

"Good evening Angels and Gentlemen. I am Marco, and I'm on a mission of my own. I'm searching for Mar Grimm. The archives here, say that his codename is Reaper. How fitting, seeing as how he's killed a few of my friends. Although some of them might have gotten lost finding you. Some friends can be such idiots." said Marco shaking his head, smiling.

"Hey Reaper, who is that? What is that?" asked Roach. I honestly wanted to say that Marco was harmless; but I knew better.

"Marco's a Wraith. The Wraith are brutal, merciless creatures that would kill you the second you tried to run. Usually they ignore people who aren't concerned by their presence, but Marco seems different. He doesn't care whether we're worried or not; he'll kill anyone he sees." I said, analysing the expression on Marco's face. Before anyone could say something about this, Marco started to speak again.

"I'm guessing you've killed two or three demons in your travels. From the looks of things, you've killed the Were-monkey and the were-wolf. Luckily for me, I'm stronger than they are. I'd probably have trouble if you'd killed the changeling, but he's no fool. He would have killed you easily. Since you're still alive, I'm guessing he's not found you yet. I however, have traced this call and found your location. I look forward to seeing you soon, Reaper."

The screen went black as Marco turned off the computer. I stood there smiling. If Marco was as strong as the changeling; then I'd have no problem killing him. I turned to my team and ordered them to get ready for a fight. We prepared for anything that might happen. We set traps at the main entrances, the ventilation systems, etc. All entrances were set. Now we just needed the catch of the day. The team was prepared for battle as we stood at the centre of the base. Marco would have some difficulty finding the base first. Unlike most operation sites, our base was above ground. Surely enough, Marco came through. He arrived just five minutes after we'd finished. This is where it would begin; the beginning of the end.

We heard explosions at the main entrance. But there was no screaming, something was wrong.

"Oh yeah, they're hurting now." said Duke. I shook my head. They'd expected this from us.

"No. Something's wrong. There are explosions, but no screams." I said. Duke turned back to the door.

"You thinking, they planned this?" he asked. I nodded. Destroyer stepped forward, his dual mini-guns in his hands.

"So what's hitting the traps?" He asked. Everyone turned to him; everyone except me. I knew what they were using.

"They're using bodies from headquarters. They were expecting us to defend ourselves like this. Marco's smarter than I thought." I said. Though I didn't like Marco, I had to give him credit. Not many demons would think of a counter-defence like this.

"I'll check it out." said Goat. I nodded to him. He took a step forward. When he stood over a vent, a hand reached up and grabbed him. We all looked to Goat in horror. The hand pulled him down, killing him in seconds. Blood was gushing out of his mouth.

"Goat!" shouted Roach. He went to help his team-mate, but I stopped him. Roach turned to me.

"We've got to help him. He could still be alive we can't just—" I shook my head. Roach started to complain again but I cut him off.

"Goat is dead. You may not have seen the blood, but I wouldn't miss something like that." I said. After a bit of arguing, Roach was winning. Then we heard an explosion from just outside the room. I pointed at the door.

"Did you hear that? That was the sound of Goat's mangled body landing on a mine. Now you draw your weapon and aim it at the door." I said. Roach grabbed his rifle and pointed it at the door like I said. We heard shouts and screams outside. The demons were getting restless. We listened to them screaming for what seemed like hours.

Suddenly, the sound ceased. There was silence. It was an eerie silence that tore through my body like the mirror back home. My thoughts drew back to Spyro and Cynder. I never found out if she was really pregnant. I never got to finish that hunt with Spyro. I didn't spend enough time with Tremor and Anna. I didn't even start their magic training sessions. I felt heavy. I wanted to see my family again. I had to see my family again. There was a loud bang. It disrupted my train of thought. I heard another bang from the other side of the door.

The next hit made a dent in the door. I noticed the outline of Goat's head. Roach stared at me, hate in his eyes. He started to point his weapon at me, but I put him in his place by flashing my eyes at him. He froze instantly, his weapon still facing the door.

"Stop! If you want the door opened, punch through it. Like so." Said Marco. The next thing we saw was a clawed hand make its way through the door. Screams followed this action. Then the demons started following Marco's action; breaking the door within seconds.

There stood Marco, tall dark and not so handsome. I stared at him; and he just stared right back. The demons made their way over to the team.

"Wait. Mar's mine. Do what you will with the spares." He said. I motioned for the team to duck. As they did so, I created a maelstrom around my body, sucking everybody in, except for Marco and the team. After a minute, I let the maelstrom explode into a great force, sending the demons into the walls, and to their destruction. Marco wasn't impressed.

"That's the extent of your power? I must say I'm disappointed. I really expected a challenge. Oh well, let's see how you fare against my full party. If you survive them, then come see me." He said, and then motioned for the rest of his henchmen to attack. When nothing happened, He turned to see the rest of his party lying on the floor, as dead as the people they'd killed. Marco was horrified. He turned back to me, but I wasn't there. As he'd turned, I jumped to where he was facing before.

Marco looked up and to his left and right. He couldn't find me. I tapped his shoulder, scaring him to death.

"Tell me. Do you even have power? Or were you just relying on your lackeys?" I asked. He shook his head.

"No. I really don't have any power. I control the minds of my children, that's all. The more I make, the weaker I become. These were the strongest I'd ever made. But you blew them away like they were nothing. You've killed more than two demons, haven't you?" He asked. It was a simple question. One that I fully intended to answer.

"You're number eight." I said. Marco sighed and knelt down, readying himself for execution. I knew he was planning something. I looked toward Roach, who was still holding his weapon. He quietly hoisted his weapon onto his shoulder and aimed for Marco's head. Marco looked up at me, wondering what was taking me so long for me to attack him.

"What's—" Before Marco could finish; Roach had pulled the trigger and shot Marco in the back of the head.

It wouldn't be enough to kill Marco, so I extended my claws and dug into his neck. I'd planned to do what I did to Beo-dur. I pulled as hard as I could. Surprisingly, his head came of easier than I thought. I stumbled backwards and tripped over a dead body. Marco's head was in my hand, blood on my face and I was struggling to get up. The rest of my team were laughing at my sudden fright frenzy. I stopped and casually got up as if nothing went wrong. I started laughing as I straightened myself. I turned around and saw a cloaked man standing in the doorway. He raised his hand and fired a ball of energy at us.

"DUCK!" I shouted. The organisation looked in my direction, but it was too late. I'd ducked out of the way, but my team got full blast of the energy. It sent them spiralling into the walls. I readied myself for another attack. I saw the demons rising from the ground. Had they been unconscious instead of killed like I'd planned? Or was this cloaked figure the reason behind their reawakening? I looked at the cloaked figure. He was performing a complex motion with his hands. He wore a spider's body on his torso. Whether the spider was dead or not, I didn't know. He turned to me and removed his hood.

"Good evening. My name is Galen. You must be Mar. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I'm a necromancer. You might not recognise the clothing I wear. I bet you're so used to the bell bandoliers in the Old Kingdom." He said. I stared at him, shock in my expression.

"How did you know I went to the Old Kingdom?" I asked. He seemed familiar, but I couldn't place him anywhere. He just chuckled at me. Then he raised his hand and waved a finger at me.

"Now, now. That would be telling. By the way, how is The Abhorsen? Sabriel I think her name is?" He smiled. So did I. I remembered who he was now. I'd visited Sabriel and Touchstone shortly after they'd married. They'd appointed me the Godfather of their children, should anything happen to them during a mission. Galen was one of the Charter Mages in the royal palace. He'd envied my abilities. He didn't want to be a slave the rest of his life. He'd asked me to take him with me once. But I'd declined. I wasn't I the habit of taking people from their own realms. Spyro and Cynder were an exception.

"I see you remember me now?" He asked. I smiled. He was a goner. If he'd gone from charter mage to necromancer, he'd be easy to kill. I charged him. He fired another energy ball at me. I dodged left and ran even faster. Galen fired several energy balls at once, all in different directions. I countered with an energy wave. It destroyed all seven balls and went on to Galen.

Galen laughed at the incoming wave. He fired a wave of his own, but it was destroyed like the balls.

"What?" He shouted. The wave closed in on Galen. He jumped out of its path and landed on the floor next to me. I grabbed him from behind and started strangling him. He raised his hand and something hit me in the head. I turned to see a demon with another demon's arm. I released one arm and blasted the demon to Kingdom come. I placed my arm back around Galen's neck and continued to strangle him. He chuckled a little as I tightened my grip.

"You think I'm done that quickly? I've waited so long to find you. I even joined their pitiful excuse of a family just to get you. It's not over till I say it's over." He said. He was determined to get revenge.

"You just said it's over." I said. Then I snapped his neck. I released him, but instead of falling to the ground; he rose into the air, and shed his skin. He'd grown claws and lost his legs. His new skin was a darker shade than before. He'd become a Lich.

I stared as his blood dripped to the floor. He cackled at my face.

"Do you now understand why I will kill you? You're no match for me." He chortled. He was very high on himself. It was pissing me off.

"You won't beat me." I said calmly; a smile on my face. He tilted his head to the left. Curious as to why.

"Oh?" He urged on. My own skin started to crack. My muscles breaking it apart. I was transforming into the creature that had killed Beo-dur. The creature that I had no control of.

"Because it's not my destiny to die by your hand." I said before I burst out of my shell that was flesh.

This was it. Lich versus Death. Which would win?

* * *

Chapter 23: Battle of the dead

Galen created another ball of energy. But this one was compressed. It was ten times the strength of his original energy ball. But it still wasn't a match for me. He fired his ball at me. I created a green ball in my hand, half the size of his. The colour changed as I drew energy from this world into my Blaster Shell. I reared up and threw it as hard as I could. The Blaster shell went through the opposing energy ball, and like my wave, went on to Galen.

Galen spread his arms out wide and took in the Blaster Shell. He grabbed its sides and spun around. After a full three-sixty degree turn, my Blaster Shell was headed straight for me. That was something I couldn't stand. I fired an even stronger Blaster Shell at my previous one. It didn't hit like Galen had expected. It actually deflected the other one back to him while continuing on.

"Hah, not bad Mar, but I'm stronger than that." He said. He drew in the dead bodies around us and created a wall. When the wall had finished, my Blaster Shell had collided with the bodies. There was a faint smell of bacon as I grabbed a cooked arm and swallowed it whole. Galen was watching this. He looked disgusted at what I'd just done.

"Do you still believe you can beat me?" He asked, trying to change his mood. I smiled at him.

"No. I think I can eat you though." I said, rubbing my stomach and licking my lips. Galen shuddered at the thought of being eaten. He looked back to me. But I was gone.

"I've seen this trick before. You used it against Marco when he—" He turned to face me. But I wasn't there. He looked left and right. He looked behind himself and above.

"Where are you?" He called. He scratched his head for a minute. He'd looked everywhere except… Down. Galen lowered his head slowly. He saw me with my maw wide open. I shot up and bit down on his spine. He froze, Paralysed. I worked my way up his body. Eating every inch. There was nothing he could do about it.

I managed to get to his head. Then I stopped.

"You realise you're number nine on my kill list." I said. He nodded slightly. Then he tried to speak.

"Number…ten…back…with your…family. They're… as good as dead." He said. I took this information in slowly.

"Thank you for telling me. I've been looking for a reason to go back there. I'll let him know you said hi." I said before finishing off his head. I swallowed hard.

My body turned back to its normal form. My muscles forming back to their normal size. My hair however, was long again. I flicked it back to see better. I grabbed my things and replaced my clothes. I wore the same boots, a navy blue tank top, and the same black men's skirt as before. I grabbed a black trench coat and a bandolier that I bought. It was separated three ways. Joined by a ring on the centre. Like Sam's. I got her one the day I left for AODA.

I jumped to the entrance of Country wide cottages and ran for the Castle cottage. I snuck up to the back porch. I saw Spyro lying on the ground, unconscious. Tremor and Anna were propped up against the wall. Alex was crawling to the one figure standing. Number ten as I called him, was holding Cynder in one hand and Sam in the other. Alex grabbed Ten's ankle and tried to pull himself up. But Ten just kicked Alex across the room. Alex went flying past me and landed outside in the dirt.

I stood up and went to a better hiding place.

"For the last time Sam. Where is your Brother?" He asked. Sam was unconscious by now. Ten threw Sam across the room. She landed on Spyro who yelled out in pain. His leg was broken and his wings were shredded. I looked at Ten. He seemed like a normal human, only he had sharp teeth and strength like no other.

"Okay then…Cynder is it? Where is—" Cynder held the seal I gave her in her paws. She'd become so weak, she'd dropped it. Ten noticed this and bent down to pick it up.

"Where is your step-father?" He asked after he looked at my seal. Cynder opened her eyes and stared at Ten.

"He's somewhere you'll never find him." She said before chuckling. Ten sighed. He tightened his grip on Cynder.

"It's a shame really. You're rather cute for a Dragon." He said. He lifted his free hand and straightened it. He was going to impale Cynder with his own hand.

As he lunged for her. I jumped next to him and grabbed his hand while it was inches away from impaling Cynder. Ten was startled by my sudden appearance.

"That's enough. They're not your goal. I am." I said. Ten nodded and handed Cynder over to me gently. He let me make them more comfortable before he introduced himself.

"Now that your family is safe, let me introduce myself. My name is Marrek. I suppose you're wondering what I am if not human? Well I'm a Vampire. And don't think that those books are true. Holy water, Steaks, sunlight it's all crap. In the end, decapitation is the only way to go." he said. I wasn't sure if he intentionally gave away his weakness, or if it was by accident. He wasn't showing any emotion besides pride. I took off my trench coat and placed it behind Spyro and Cynder's heads. I stood there, pure rage in my face. I wanted him to die.

"Tell me, Why do you fight? Surely it's not for them?" I looked at him curiously for a second before refocusing my attention to his movements.

"You could be so much more. There are ten of us, you could be number eleven. What do you say? It's an offer. Leave them behind for something greater?" he asked. He obviously didn't understand the concept of family.

"Nothing is greater than what I have. And I have a family that would look out for me. As I do them. So thanks, but I refuse your offer." I decided to act as if I had nothing to lose. I stood straight up, defenceless. I didn't move or breathe. Then again, neither did he. We stood there for minutes on end. Then I spoke, scaring him.

"Tell me, have any of the demons you sent after me ever called back?" I asked. He raised an eyebrow at me.

"No. But I presume they've gotten lost trying to find you. Why else would you be alive?" He asked. I smiled at him.

"Galen wasn't very happy with his family. But I wouldn't worry about him, He's very much dead. He was easy enough. Easier than the changeling. The Mirror would have been darn near invincible, were it not for its stupidity." I said. Marrek was listening intently.

"How many of my family have you killed?" He asked amused by my abilities. I studied his reaction.

"You're number ten." I said. Marrek froze in place. His eyes wide open. I stood there and crossed my arms, waiting for a response to this fact.

"Although, The werewolf will be dead by tomorrow. I gave him special privileges." I said, chuckling. Marrek gave me a cold hard stare.

"I formed my pride on my family. We were unbeatable. Now you come along and expect to brush through us like insects? You're dead wrong mister." He said. Now that I got a better look at the vampire, he didn't look much older than Tremor.

"Tell me, how old are you?" I asked. I didn't expect him to answer, but he calmed down and asked a question as well.

"I'm seventeen. How old are you?" He asked. I smiled and looked over to my family. I turned back to Marrek.

"I'm thirty next week." I said. But he was gone. He'd disappeared. I heard him creeping up behind me. I bent reality to make myself incorporeal. I was in the mood for a little fun. Marrek ran through me and tripped over. But he gained his balance after a microsecond. He was fast. That was what I wanted.

* * *

Chapter 24: Final Bout

"Well that was rude. I was talking and you interrupt me. You need to learn some manners." I said as I lifted my hand and blasted him with an energy wave. To my shock, the wave went right through him.

"You didn't think you were the only one who could do that did you?" He asked, smiling. I lowered my hand and smiled.

"No, I was just waiting for the day I met someone who could do that. This should be fun." I said, crouching down. As I crouched, I spread my arms out to the sides and my fingers turned to claws.

Marrek placed both arms in front of him, balancing on one leg, his foot pressed on the other. He kicked the ground with his heel and lifted into the air. I held my position, ready for an attack. I watched his movements as he swayed from side to side, like a man who's just been hung. I corporialised myself and went on the offensive. I lashed out with my claws. Marrek had landed on the ground. He ducked and twisted his waist around to see where I was.

He did a round house kick in my face. I retaliated with a kick in the ribs. He tried to power punch me but I blocked him with my fists. There was a moment where we pulled the same punches and kicks. Then we both did a side swipe, knocking each other in the faces. Marrek was stunned, but I pulled through quicker. I kneed him in the head. He retaliated afterward by spinning around as he was hit, and kicking me in the side of the face.

We locked hands and tried to knee each other without success. I finally decided to head butt him. He stumbled backwards and I chose that moment to strike. I kicked him in the stomach and using some rapid movements, elbowed him in the chest three times and sideswiped him into a boulder outside. As he was recovering, I placed five rings around his body, holding him there. I punched and kicked as hard as I could.

"What's the matter Marrek? I thought you had pride. I guess I was wrong." I said. Without warning, Marrek opened his eyes. Energy beams shot out of them, singing off my left arm. I crouched down, yelling in pain. I clutched my shoulder where my arm used to be. I stared at him, Hatred running in my eyes. As I released the rings from the boulder, he held onto one of them and used it to throw the boulder into my face. It shattered and I was sent flying into the cottage next door. Amber was sitting on the couch watching T.V when I shot through the cottage and landed next to her.

"Hey, you're back!" she said. She was cut off short as she saw my shoulder dripping. She stared at my face, and cringed away immediately. She saw the hatred in my eyes. Without a sound, I got up from the couch and stepped out from the cottage and blasted the entire area surrounding Marrek to Kingdom come. The castle survived, but the back yard was in ruins. I saw Di watching from the back window of the Castle. She saw the destruction going on and had to investigate. I turned to Marrek who was unaffected by my energy wave. I growled a low throaty growl that echoed through the mountain. My skin began to get covered in a dark mist. I had just about had enough of this guy. I let the darkness come as I began to chortle. My body was turning that dark Violet I always liked. I smiled as my face was covered in darkness.

My shadowy flesh began to grow tendrils. They slowly headed towards Marrek.

"I'll just become incorporeal. They'll go right through me." He said. I couldn't help but stifle a laugh.

"Oh it'll go through you alright." I said. The tendrils wrapped around Marrek who didn't do anything to get out of the way. They squeezed against his incorporeal form. He screamed in pain and terror.

"How is this possible?" he asked. But I wasn't in the mood for explaining the details.

As I pulled him closer, I noticed he was looking at my shoulder. I was still missing my arm.

"How're you gonna rip me to pieces with only one arm?" He asked. I licked my lips. He seemed tasty enough. As I placed my maw around Marrek's head, I felt stronger. This surprised me; I felt strength growing within me; my muscles growing ten times their current strength. I let go of Marrek as I let the shadowy flesh slip from my body. Marrek stared at me with disgust.

"I guess your werewolf is completely dead now." He said. My muscles were bigger, but not enough to slow me down which was a good thing. I looked down at Marrek. Before he could react, I bit off his head and swallowed. The rest of his body flailed a little before going limp. I smiled as I knelt down on the ground. I groaned as I fell backwards; losing consciousness altogether.

* * *

Chapter 25: Go-pyre

I woke up on a bed that seemed unfamiliar to me. I tried to balance myself, but fell to my left, landing on my shoulder. I yelped in pain. I tried to bite my lip and bare it. I heard a voice calling for someone to enter the room. I took a minute to look at my surroundings. I saw a crystal chandelier; next to the bed was a bottle of alcohol and some bandages. I reached over to the bottle and rad the label. This bottle was used specifically for treating wounds. I closed my eyes again and fell into a deep slumber.

Again, I woke to see the same room and items on the bench next to the bed. I decided to look around some more. I saw three chairs. One had Spyro lying asleep on it. The other two had bits of raw meat on two plates. I looked at the end of the bed. I saw a mirror on the wall, and some bottles of perfume and makeup. Things like that. I tried to move, but I heard a moaning sound coming from my right. Cynder was asleep, her head resting on my remaining arm. I smiled and stroked her head and went along to the tip of her tail. She shivered. I used to do that whenever she was upset over something back at the dragon realms. We'd go with Spyro on mountain hunts and sometimes spend the night there. Spyro and Cynder would always curl up next to me for warmth. I'd stroke the both of them from head to tail and watch their reaction. It always amused me to see them smile.

I heard a voice crying next to me. Sam was sitting in a chair, her head in her hands. She'd not noticed I was awake.

"What's the matter sweetie? You never cry." I said. She started talking. She hadn't realised it was me speaking. She hadn't lifted her head.

"It's Mar, he's all I have left. Now he's lost his Fiancée and an arm. He's become half the man I knew. I watched his fight with that asshole Marrek. He didn't show any mercy. The Mar I knew would have given him a chance." She said. Spyro and Cynder were still sleeping while Sam talked.

"Maybe Mar didn't have a choice, maybe he figured Marrek would kill you and the others if he'd let him live?" I suggested. Sam chuckled.

"Mar wouldn't let that happen. He'd probably take the risk if it meant sparing a life." she said. I stared at her.

"Are you sure?" I asked. Sam just nodded.

"Well, maybe you don't know your brother as well as you think?" I asked. Sam raised her head, outraged.

"I know my brother more than you ever will you bastard!" She shouted. Spyro and Cynder jumped at Sam's sudden outburst.

"Spyro why would you say things like that?" Sam asked. Spyro just tilted his head. Cynder stared at me, upset that I had not woken up.

"I just woke up. I heard you screaming your lungs out and them you accuse me of saying…something." he said. Then he dropped his head and closed his eyes again.

"Well if you didn't say anything, who did?" she asked. I opened my eyes and spoke up.

"Well, it could've been me. I guess you'll never know." I said, smiling at them. Sam and Spyro jumped onto the bed and tried to hug me, being careful not to hit my shoulder.

"You're awake. How do you feel?" asked Sam. I frowned at her.

"I must say, a little disappointed. I'd never risk your lives if it meant sparing another's. You of all people should know this Sam." I said. Sam shied away before I grabbed her arm with mine and hugged her. Sam went limp, using all her energy to hug me as hard as she could. Now that I was a Vampire, I could take her hugs.

Sam finally released me and let Spyro and Cynder have a turn.

"Cynder, I have something for you." I said. Cynder tilted her head as I opened my palm. Her seal magically appeared in my hand. Cynder squealed as she picked up with her mouth and thanked me again by hugging me. I smiled.

"Promise me you won't lose it? These are hard to make." I said, trying to lighten the mood even more. Cynder smiled, tears of joy coming out of her eyes.

"By the way Spyro, was I right in my assumption about Cynder's problem?" I asked. Cynder tilted her head at me, than looked at Spyro for an answer.

"Phantom pregnancy." He answered. I nodded in understanding. Cynder looked at me bleakly.

"You already suspected I was pregnant and you didn't say anything?" She asked. I raised my arm defensively.

"Hey, Women get angry if you ask about their unborn child. Besides, you were going through the hormonal stages. No one could anticipate your reaction. Not even you." I said goofily. I tried to make her smile. Luckily for me and my healing shoulder, it did.

"So, you've killed the tenth demon. Now you're of the same species. Correct?" asked Spyro. I nodded.

"So you're a Vampire now? Or are you something more?" he asked. I looked at him confused.

"Well, you're a Vampire, but you've got the abilities of a God. What does that make you? A Vod? A Gompire? A Godpire? No wait I've got it. How about: Go-pyre?" He asked.

"God Spyro, You're as bad at naming as Sam here." I said. I chuckled as Sam hit me on the thigh for being rude.

"But I do like Go-pyre. It's catchy. What do you think Cynder?" I asked. Cynder nodded and said:

"Yeah, I like it." I motioned for Sam to make a comment on this possible title. She confirmed it by simply nodding. I smiled at her.

"Very well then. I'm not a Vampire, or an Angel, or a God. I'm now the first of a new breed of Demon. A Go-pyre." I looked at Spyro who was nodding in approval. I smiled at him.

"Mar?" I heard Cynder call. I turned my head to her.

"Earlier, Marrek referred to you as my Step father. What did he mean by that?" she asked.

"Well, those seals are specifically made for my children. You two are considered the first children in the House of Mar." I explained. I waited for them to yell at me for adopting them without permission. But instead, I felt scales around me. They were hugging me as hard as they could.

"Well you never cease to amaze us Mar. But I have just one question. If Spyro is my Step brother, can we still be married?" asked Cynder. I chuckled at the question.

"It's not illegal for Step children to be involved with each other. That's only if you're blood relatives. Even if it is against the law, it doesn't count if you were married before adoption. Anyway, who's gonna stop you from being together? Certainly not me." I said, chuckling.

"Do you even know if what you say is true?" asked Spyro. I put my head against the pillow and looked at the chandelier.

"No. Not really no, no." I said. Spyro smiled and shook his head.

"Well, we'd better get packing." Said Spyro. Everyone including me looked at him. Spyro looked at the calendar on the wall.

"Our honeymoon has just about run out. And I must say Mar. I've enjoyed it. Especially when I get some alone time with Cynder." He said rubbing Cynder's muzzle with his own. Cynder cooed a little before falling on my torso.

"Huh. The poison kiss hey Cynder?" I asked chuckling. Cynder blushed a little.

"Well like Spyro said, we'd better pack. No telling what the future might hold." said Cynder.

**END**


End file.
